Detroit Lions mailbag: How Juice Scruggs looks at center, Sam LaPorta’s contract future, and why Detroit’s defense looks much better
Juice Scruggs has made a strong case at center, Sam LaPorta’s injury shouldn’t change the big picture, and Detroit’s defense is showing reasons for optimism.
The Detroit Lions play their second preseason game of 2026 on Saturday, and Lions fans have questions about the roster heading into the final stretch of camp. From Juice Scruggs settling in at center to Sam LaPorta’s contract future to a defensive line that looks significantly improved, there’s a lot to get into. Let’s get to it.
How does Juice Scruggs look at center?
So far, so good. We’ve only seen about a week of Scruggs playing center for Detroit, but the best way to put it is he looks better than Seth McLaughlin. And I didn’t think McLaughlin looked bad. Scruggs can handle it. He played center at Penn State the entire time he was there, and he’s played center in actual NFL games. He started at center for roughly the first eight games of the Houston Texans’ 2024 season and was the eighth-highest-graded center during that stretch. He has experience. He knows how to play the position. I think the struggle for him was trying to play guard, but center is his natural spot. The Lions feel good about it, and I fully expect him to be the starter once the season begins.
Is Sam LaPorta’s injury going to prevent an extension?
Not at all. It would take an awful lot for me to start thinking Detroit won’t extend LaPorta. When I say an awful lot, I mean a season-ending injury this year. Even if he missed a couple of games, even if he wound up missing Week 1 and Week 2, I still think the Lions would extend him at some point because he’s that important to what they want to do. Jared Goff has a high level of trust with him and will target him often. He’s like an extra safety blanket out there.
LaPorta means so much to this offense and to what offensive coordinator Drew Petzing wants to build, which is going to be a tight-end-forward type of group. I absolutely do not believe in any way that this injury, which Lions coach Dan Campbell has described as not serious, is going to affect him getting paid. Will he get the kind of deal that makes him the highest-paid tight end in the league? I don’t know. That’s the big question. I think if the first half of his season is very good, the Lions won’t have a problem doing that.
Has Jackson Meeks earned a roster spot?
I think Meeks has looked good. With that said, I don’t know about a roster spot right now. Unless LaPorta can’t go for the first week or two, I have a hard time seeing Meeks making the 53. That’s not to say this experiment moving him to tight end hasn’t worked. It just needs more time. Three or four weeks of practices were never going to be enough for him to click at that position. I’m looking at 2027 as the year you start really seeing Meeks contribute. I still believe the Lions will elevate him a few times this year, and you’ll get to see him work into the offense a little more. But right now, he’s probably a practice squad guy, and that’s okay.
Why are the Lions working out 2 offensive linemen?
The sense I’m getting is twofold. Part of it is that Detroit essentially had no left guard battle this offseason. They had planned to, but Scruggs got hurt, then Cade Mays got hurt, which forced Scruggs to switch positions when he returned. Ben Bartch has practiced roughly two times this entire summer because of injuries and a concussion. Giovanni Manu got hurt on the second day of practice and hasn’t practiced since. Miles Frazier doesn’t appear ready to start, and he might be better served on the right side than the left.
The other part is telling. With Christian Mahogany almost winning this job by default, the Lions basically refused to just give it to him. Campbell has been asked twice about Mahogany, and both times he kept saying it’s an open-position battle. They want him tested. That’s why you bring in two starting-caliber offensive linemen who have been starters their entire careers, one of whom is a former Pro Bowler. I’m talking about Laken Tomlinson and Will Hernandez. The Lions want to continue this battle, and they may even carry it into the regular season.
Who are the starting corners and safeties come November?
Who are the starting corners and safeties come November this year?
— ProudDetroiter (@detroitstrong.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 3:55 PM
I think this is pretty simple. Your starting corners are DJ Reed and Rock Ya-Sin, with Christian Izien in the nickel, and your starting safeties are Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Based on what Campbell told us early in training camp, both Branch and Joseph could return to practice in late August, which typically means a two-to-three-week ramp-up period. I’m guessing you might see both back by the end of September, around Week 3 or Week 4. From there, I expect everybody to stay relatively healthy and be on the field in November.
If LaPorta is out, who steps up at tight end?
If LaPorta is out for a while (again!), is there another TE on the roster who might step up?
— Huggers23 (@huggers23.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 3:52 PM
That’s where it gets hard. The Lions like to utilize tight ends, and Petzing likes to feature them in the passing game. Campbell again said the injury was minor and wouldn’t say whether it would leak into the regular season. But if LaPorta misses a week or two, Tyler Conklin should be able to handle that role fairly well. He was a good receiving tight end in New York and has shown he can block. Brock Wright can catch some passes here and there. And as I mentioned, this would be exactly the kind of scenario where Meeks gets elevated as that third tight end.
Is Darius Slay coming back?
No. Slay retired this offseason and had a big retirement party. A bunch of former Lions were there; a bunch of former teammates from other teams were there. It was a huge ceremony. He’s done. He’s not coming out of retirement.
Stock up or down on the defense compared to last year?
Stock up, and for multiple reasons. The interior pass rush is significantly better. Alim McNeill looks like Alim McNeill again. I know fans hate when you talk like this because it’s training camp, but he is getting push, he is getting to the quarterback, he’s doing everything he was doing before the injury, and I think he’s in better shape than he was before it. Tyleik Williams is doing his thing.
On the edges, Aidan Hutchinson looks better than he did last summer. I say this every year, and it sounds like a slappy fanboy thing to say, but I’m telling you, this guy is killing everyone out there. He’s embarrassing people. Goff has to be happy he wears that red jersey. DJ Wonnum has looked good. Derrick Moore has started to come on. Ahmed Hassanein is starting to come on. Tyler Lacy is doing his thing. Syler Gill-Howard has some pass-rush juice. The Lions are in so much better shape on this defensive line than they were a year ago.
The secondary is in good shape too. Everybody freaked out when the Lions lost Carlton Davis and Terrion Arnold, but it was almost addition by subtraction. Ya-Sin is looking good. Nick Whiteside has stepped up huge. Reed looks better than he did in the second half of last season when he was playing hurt. Chuck Clark is a career starter at safety, and Avonte Maddox has been a starter for a while, so the depth will get Detroit through until Branch and Joseph return. Izien is an upgrade at nickel over Amik Robertson.
The linebacking corps has Jack Campbell, a first-team All-Pro, and Derrick Barnes, a good player. Devin White might be the big surprise this year. He’s going to help in the run game.
The other thing I wrote about recently: the Lions are getting turnovers in practice and in preseason games. Last summer, they couldn’t do it. It was so concerning that Campbell brought it up almost daily. He doesn’t talk about it this year because it keeps happening. They’re picking Goff off, they’re forcing fumbles, they’re picking off Luke Altmyer. They’re out there doing the thing. I think this is a defense you can feel a lot more comfortable with than you did a year ago.
What would it take for Jahmyr Gibbs to overtake Barry Sanders as the best running back in franchise history?
This is a hard question to answer because it’s almost like the Michael Jordan-LeBron James argument. For some people my age, and probably your age, no one will ever be better than Barry Sanders. There’s no way. And for people who are grandpa’s age, it was Walter Payton or Gale Sayers or Jim Brown. It’s all about generations. I think if Gibbs keeps playing at the pace he’s at right now, young fans are going to think he’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened. And they have a right to feel that way, because maybe he will be.
If you’re asking me statistically, I think Gibbs can absolutely pass Sanders in rushing yards and all the Lions franchise running records, and maybe some NFL ones too. He has that ability, but he’s got to do it. I think you have to do all of those things, and you have to win a Super Bowl. That’s how you do it.
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