"The first thing you have to understand about Lions quarterback Shaun Hill is that he is a person. Yes, I know, you thought he was an antelope. What I mean is that we tend to view athletes as cartoon characters -- good guy, bad guy, hero, bum -- but Hill basically wants the same things out of a job that you or I might want.

Hill turned 30 in January. Like a lot of 30-year-olds, he was past the dreaming stage of his career and heavy into reality. He wanted what most of us want out of a job: a good boss, a clear job description, colleagues he liked.

When the Lions acquired Hill from San Francisco last spring, he got all three.

"That was part of the thing I was excited about," he said Thursday. "My career in the last couple of years, situations I was in, I was always up in the air from week to week. There was no real structure to the quarterback depth chart. It kind of wore on me a little bit. I know my role here. I'm just happy to have that structure in place. That said, I know when it's my turn to play, I'm the starter. And when Matthew is healthy and ready to come back, he is the starter and I take a backseat."

What's interesting about this is that Hill absolutely, unequivocally knew he would not be the Lions' starter. No team was going to hand him a starting job, but some teams clearly have shaky starters, and Hill could have told himself, "Hey, maybe that guy will falter, this is my chance, that's what I want.""