Lions dealt a big blow with an offensive line injury, but some opportunities just opened up for an award-winning offensive lineman
The Lions are in a tough spot with Cade Mays, but they are a lot more prepared at center than they were last year. This opens the door for a former Rimington winner to get a shot.
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell started off Monday’s presser with some pretty upsetting news for fans. New starting center Cade Mays injured his wrist over the weekend and will be out for the foreseeable future. Campbell expects this injury to bleed over into the regular season. The report is 8-10 weeks right now. That would put his return somewhere in October.
Mays joins Commanders left tackle Laremy Tunsil, Saints center Dillon Radunz, and other offenisve linemen who have gotten hurt at training camp in the last two weeks. Nevertheless, it’s a frustrating development for a team that was 31st in adjusted games lost to injury in 2025. It feels a bit snakebitten.
The opportunity it opens up
What do the Lions do now? This moment does open up an opportunity for Seth McLaughlin, who was the Rimington Trophy winner (college football’s best center) at Ohio State two years ago. According to Campbell, he will rep with the first team at practice on Monday.
In addition to that, there are a number of players the Lions plan to try there.
Certainly, I mean, those are the guys; that’s why they’re here. You know, Juice (Scruggs) is dealing with a little bit of a soft tissue injury, so he won’t be out there today. It’ll be still a few more days before he’s back, but certainly Juice is a candidate. You know, McLaughlin’s going to get looks. Obviously, he’ll probably run mostly with the ones today. (Michael) Niese has done it, and then (Tate) Ratledge is going to work. You know, I don’t see him doing team (reps), but we got to get him back up to speed, you know, going snapping just in case. So we got options. You know, we just listen; It’s the hand you’re dealt. You move on.”
If you’re worried about Ratledge possibly moving to center, it sounds like they just want to have him take a few snaps in drills and not on team reps. So that doesn’t appear to be the move for Detroit.
Right now, the thing that makes the most sense is Scruggs. This is what the Lions brought him in. He was a center at Penn State and was on that Rimington watch list. He’s also done some of that in the NFL. He’s been prepping at center for the Lions in the last two weeks as well. So it’s not out of the blue. They just need to get him back on the field.
McLuaghlin is getting the biggest opportunity of his career at this point because he really has no competition. He’s likely to play nearly all of the preseason game against the Bengals on Thursday with Scruggs out. Niese has repped at center here and there, but I personally haven’t seen him do it this summer.
It’s not how you want to go into he season, but the truth is the Lions are better prepared for it this year than they were last. Even if the preparation scares you a little bit.
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