One Lions starter may have lost his spot in Week 1 — and he might not get it back
Mahogany finally emerged from Detroit’s months-long competition before Week 1. Then an injury put Bartch on the field, and the veteran made a compelling case to stay there.
The Detroit Lions’ left guard battle was the highlight battle coming into training camp this summer. Christian Mahogany was set to defend his spot against Ben Bartch, Juice Scruggs, Giovanni Manu, and Michael Niese.
Then that battle didn’t even wind up happening. Bartch came into camp hurt, Scruggs got hurt, and when he came back, he had to move to center because of Cade Mays’ injury. Manu practiced one day this summer, and Niese was always a long shot.
Even though Mahogany practiced the entire time and looked decent, Lions head coach Dan Campbell simply refused to just give him the starting job outright. Even last week leading up to the matchup with the Saints, the Lions had Bartch competing with Mahogany for the job. Ultimately, Mahogany won, but then he left Sunday’s game early with an injury.
Ben Bartch may have stolen that job with his play
The thing that I have been saying all offseason is that Mahogany’s play can be unbalanced. He’s a really good run blocker, but struggles in pass blocking. Interestingly enough, he was actually decent in pass blocking on Sunday, but struggled in run blocking.
Bartch came in and was balanced across the board. Pro Football Focus’ instant grades gave him a 66.5 overall grade. That consisted of a 63.7 run block grade and a 67.9 pass block grade. He allowed zero pressures and zero sacks.
We don’t know what Mahogany’s injury looks like. Campbell said that initial scans came back negative, but that didn’t mean they were out of the woods with the injury. Then in the locker room, Mahogany was telling reporters that he was fine.
At this point, it feels like Bartch may be starting against the Bills regardless of what Mahogany’s status is in a few days. If Bartch can show that continued balance, that’s going to be an issue for Mahogany. This is one to keep an eye on Thursday.
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