The 2025 nightmare that’s likely to have the Detroit Lions playing their starting offensive line all preseason
Detroit Lions may have learned one painful lesson from last year’s Week 1 disaster. It could completely change how they handle the starting offensive line this preseason.
The Detroit Lions’ offensive line communication broke down badly in their 2025 season opener against the Green Bay Packers, and the entire organization knew it. That loss exposed a glaring issue up front, one that had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with cohesion. Now, as training camp heats up with the first padded practices underway, there are real signs that the Lions’ offensive line is working to fix that problem before Week 1 of 2026.
The Green Bay disaster
If you go back and watch the film from that Packers game, you can see the exact moments where guys were running different plays. It was that bad. Dan Campbell was asked about it a few days later, and his answer was direct: “communication, communication, communication. It’s that simple.”
That same week, Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker elaborated on what went wrong. Decker said it was “miscommunication or guys not getting the communication. And then based on that, the execution wasn’t there because there were times where guys were running different plays. There were times where guys didn’t hear calls that they need to, that were changed on the fly. There’s really no excuse for that.”
You have to understand how significant that is. The Lions weren’t getting beaten by superior talent. They were beating themselves because linemen were literally running different blocking schemes on the same snap.
What Cade Mays had to say on Monday
During the first padded practice of training camp on Monday, Lions offensive lineman Cade Mays spoke about how the communication has progressed. When asked how he feels about the communication right now with the rest of the line, Mays said, “yeah, I feel like it’s good. It’s good. You know, we get on the same page and try to put a hat on a hat. So it’s been fun.”
The verbal communication is one thing. The non-verbal stuff is where continuity really shows up. When you can look over at the guy next to you and know what he’s going to do before the snap, that’s when an offensive line starts to click. Mays talked about that, too. He said, “I mean, you just feel things. Like, once you play next to dudes for a little while, you know that, hey, they see this. Like, I know they see it. This is what’s gonna happen, and it happens. So that comes with continuity and just seeing how, like, I know this is what he’s gonna do.”
That’s encouraging. Mays emphasized continuity and reps, and the group is clearly focused on building that chemistry earlier than they did a year ago.
Expect the starters to play in the preseason
All of this leads to one conclusion: you’re going to see the Lions’ starting offensive line play in the preseason. Almost guaranteed. If you go back to that Packers loss, one of the things Campbell said afterward was that, in hindsight, playing Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany in the preseason might have benefited them. Detroit just never did it.
The Lions won’t make that mistake again. Once the starting five is set (and right now we know Cade Mays, Tate Ratledge, Penei Sewell, and Blake Miller are locked in, with left guard still to be determined), expect them to get work in all three preseason games. Not full games. Probably a few series in the first game, a few more in the second, and maybe a full quarter or first half in the third. The goal is simple: build communication, build trust, and be ready for Week 1.
Detroit can’t afford to come out flat like they did against Green Bay last year. It sounds like the team is valuing that preseason work more than they have in the past. From what both Mays and Penei Sewell have said, the communication and continuity is already further along than it was at this point last year.
That’s good news for the Lions. Let’s see where it goes.
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