We’re just talking here. Here’s what happens if the Lions have a center controversy
We’re just talking here. But the Detroit Lions could have a VERY interesting problem waiting for them in October. What happens if the guy replacing Cade Mays plays so well that Detroit doesn’t want to make a change when Mays returns? This could get complicated.
We’re just talking here. We’re spitballing, throwing things up against the wall and seeing what might stick. Maybe that last one’s not the best phrase to use, but the Detroit Lions center situation has me thinking out loud. Detroit signed Cade Mays to a 3-year, $25 million deal this offseason to be the starting center. Unfortunately, Mays suffered a wrist injury at training camp that could hold him out until October. That leaves the Lions staring at an open competition, and the candidates are more compelling than you might expect.
Seth McLaughlin and Juice Scruggs are making cases
Former Rimington Award winner Seth McLaughlin got all the first-team reps last week and played in the preseason game against the Bengals. I thought he played fairly well. He allowed a sack and two pressures, but he played basically that entire game, and part of that came against Cincinnati’s first-team defense. That’s where he gave up the sack, which makes you a tiny bit concerned, but overall he did fine. He could earn that job.
It was a bit surprising on Sunday when McLaughlin didn’t take any first-team reps at center during practice. The Lions had Juice Scruggs and, surprisingly, starting right guard Tate Ratledge taking snaps there. I think the Ratledge thing was a “let’s see what happens” experiment, and I think Detroit would be crazy to move him from right guard. I think Ratledge has future Pro Bowl possibilities at right guard. I would even go so far as to say he has future All-Pro potential there. The Lions should not move him from that spot. Last year I got it. Frank Ragnow abruptly retired, they needed a center, so they threw Ratledge out there for a day or two before putting him back at right guard where he belonged. They should do that again.
But Scruggs? Scruggs can play this position. Go back to 2024: he was the starting center for the Texans from Weeks 1 through 7 and graded out as the 8th-highest center in the NFL during that stretch. Frank Ragnow was the 4th-highest in that same span. Scruggs has already shown he can do this at a high level.
The what-if scenario
Here’s the thing. What if McLaughlin or Scruggs takes over at center until October and plays really well? What if, when Mays is ready to come back, the Lions look at their offensive line and say, “Hey Cade, we love you, but we don’t want to upset the apple cart. We’ve got to ride the hot hand.”
This sort of thing has happened before. You talk about quarterback controversies all the time. Drew Bledsoe gets hurt, this kid Tom Brady starts playing, and you never see Bledsoe play for the Patriots again. Brock Purdy comes in for the 49ers and never goes out. Those are the grandest examples of this phenomenon, but the principle applies across every sport. A guy gets hurt, someone fills in, he gets hot, and the team decides to keep rolling.
What if Scruggs goes back to being that 8th-highest-graded center? What if McLaughlin shows the world that his Achilles injury was the only reason he went undrafted, and had he been healthy, maybe he would have been a high Day 3 pick and a starting center in the NFL right now?
Could the Lions even get out of Mays’ contract?
These are good problems to have, but the Lions just committed 3 years and $25 million to Mays. Are they even set up to move on? Kind of. This year Detroit has a little over $2 million in cap hit on Mays and a $14 million dead cap hit, so he’s playing out 2026 no matter what. Next year he carries a near-$10 million cap hit with an $11 million dead cap. You could potentially squeeze out of the deal then, maybe through a trade, but you’d have to eat that dead money. After the 2027 season, the math gets clean. Mays has only about a $4.5 million cap hit in 2028 with a near-$4 million dead cap figure. The Lions could definitely get out of it at that point.
Both Scruggs and McLaughlin are free agents after this season, too. Scruggs is only 26. McLaughlin is 24. If one of them proves he’s the long-term answer, Detroit would need to pay him, and the contract flexibility to move on from Mays exists down the road.
It’s a good problem to have
I cannot say it enough: I’m just thinking out loud here. I ultimately believe one of these guys will start for a while, play well enough, and when Mays comes back, he’ll slide right into the center job, and life will continue as expected. But I’m throwing out the what-if because it feels like a conversation worth having. It feels like a good problem that you could even entertain the possibility of three good centers on the roster, when last year the Lions arguably had none. Makes you think.
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