Young Lions player is starting to get put into the best spot he could possibly be in, even if it means he’ll probably never be a starter
The Detroit Lions may have quietly found the perfect role for one young offensive lineman. The twist? It probably doesn’t end with him becoming a starter.
Going into Detroit Lions training camp, one of the big questions surrounding the offensive line was what Detroit could do with Miles Frazier. A lot of fans think Frazier should get an opportunity to start at left guard, and you can understand why. He came in last season on very short notice, didn’t have a training camp, and didn’t really play until later in the year. When he got out there, he looked okay.
But if you go back and watch the film, you see a guy who didn’t participate in training camp and had some struggles. He had some good moments too, but the struggles were there. For a minute, I considered him a potential competitor for that starting left guard spot. I thought he might be able to do it. With Christian Mahogany being the incumbent in that role and saying this is his spot, Juice Scruggs starting to get a little hotter, and Ben Bartch arguably having the most experience at left guard, it just pushed Frazier out of that conversation for me.
The move to tackle
On Sunday at training camp, the Lions had Frazier take reps at both left and right tackle. So it would appear that vision is coming true. Larry Borom is the swing tackle for Detroit right now, but you can see that they don’t really have a tackle three. I know that doesn’t sound like the most important thing in the world, but when you have injuries, you’re happy to have a third tackle if you need one. We’ve seen what injuries look like for the Lions. They just keep getting guys hurt, so having as many capable players on the roster as you can is important.
Borom is only here on a one-year deal. The scenario plays out like this: Borom has his one good year as a swing tackle for the Lions and then moves on, maybe gets a shot at starting somewhere else. After that, what do you do? Sign somebody? Draft somebody? No. You just move Miles Frazier into that role.
The Evan Brown comparison
I always bring up Brown because he had a very specific skill set for the Lions. He would come off the bench, play both guard spots, play center. He could do anything Detroit wanted him to do, but they never really pushed him to be a starter. Brown got starting jobs elsewhere with the Cardinals and the Seahawks, both at center and guard.
But here’s the thing. What really interested me with Frazier was not so much that he could play inside, but that he could play outside. He could play left tackle, right tackle. He did both of those things at LSU, and it makes you wonder if the Lions might be interested in doing more of that now that they’ve started trying it.
Where Frazier stands on the depth chart
I think Frazier is immediately ahead of Giovanni Manu and Colby Sorsdal, because at this point, we know what Manu and Sorsdal are, and they’re likely not going to make it, unfortunately. Devin Cochran is fine for a veteran tackle, but his top years of being a potential swing tackle are kind of behind him. Frazier is just 24 years old and fits that role perfectly.
We’ll see if the Lions continue to do this during training camp. I’m really interested to see if they start him at tackle in the preseason, because he’s in a perfect spot right now. With Giovanni Manu out for who knows how long, Frazier is likely going to keep getting these reps. The Lions are set up well enough on their interior that this is the best way to use him. They have Scruggs, Bartch, and Mahogany on the inside. They don’t need Frazier there as well.
Move him out to tackle, see what he can do, but he can play inside if you need him to. It’s kind of a perfect do-all guy. He may never be a starter in Detroit, and that’s fine. They don’t need him to be. This is a good player to have around, a guy who maybe gets some good reps after a while and a team comes calling for a trade. But I think the best thing for Frazier is to move to tackle, keep getting better at it. Next year he’s the swing tackle. That’s the future for Miles Frazier in Detroit.
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