New Lions center Cade Mays’ biggest weakness on paper seems to be more of a system issue than anything else
The Lions should be able to help Mays improve where he needs it
The Detroit Lions came into free agency needing a center more than anything in this world. They got their guy in former Carolina Panthers starter Cade Mays.
The 26-year old gives the Lions a chance to not only have their guy now, but to have their guy in the future. On the pass block end of things, he’s going to make Jared Goff feel safe for sure. He hasn’t allowed a sack in two years. The concern that some have, and it’s a valid one, he struggled in run blocking in 2025.
What is the problem with Cade Mays as a run blocker?
The Lions obviously really need a center who can run block, as they’re a team that has been primarily a run-first team, and with the hiring of Drew Petzing, they’re expected to double down on that and keep those ideals going. So what’s going on?
Let’s take a look at the run blocking issue in Carolina. Pro Football Focus graded Mays out at 58.3 in run blocking in 2025. That’s on the lower end of the league. The thing about center is that you’re not really on an island by yourself like you are at tackle most of the time. You have to really rely on the guards next to help do your job. If they can’t, you’re going to have some problems.
I was curious to look at the run blocking grades along the rest of the Panthers’ offensive line, and sure enough, they weren’t great. Left guard Damian Lewis did have a decent 75.2 grade, but at right guard, there were a lot of issues. The Panthers played six different players at right guard, and none of them were very good at run blocking. Austin Corbett played the most snaps there and had a 66.2 run blocking grade.
If you go back to look at how Mays played in 2024, he had a 66.9 grade. All the guards around him graded out in the mid to high 70’s in run blocking. I think that says a lot about what Mays could do if he had some solid guard play next to him to help take on blockers in the run game. The film certainly doesn’t show that he’s bad at it. We’ll dig deeper into that later in the week, but this clip says a lot.
Now, are the Lions guards good at run blocking? In 2025, Tate Ratledge graded out at 73.5 as a rookie. That is pretty good and is expected to only get better now that he can stay there. On the left side with Christian Mahogany, before he went down with an injury, he was the Lions’ best run blocker along the interior with a 73.4 grade. If he can get back to that guy, the Lions are in pretty good shape.
At the end of the day, Mays still needs to go out there and prove he can do it, but he will have a better run blocking group surrounding him, and that should assist Detroit with improving his game there.