The Lions’ actions on Monday point to them going all in on a big free agent, and they’re risking it all for him

The Detroit Lions are in the endgame

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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The Detroit Lions did a lot on Monday. The biggest thing that’s going to get all the headlines is the trade of David Montgomery. But it’s all the underlying stuff that points towards something big.

The Lions put themselves into a corner at center, and the only way out is to go all in during free agency

The Lions got Juice Scruggs from the Texans in the deal, and make no mistake, he is not ready to start anywhere on Detroit’s offensive line. Maybe, and it’s a significant maybe, he’ll be able to do so in a couple of years if the Lions keep him in town. But he is not the answer at center.

Then, later in the day, the Lions released the only guy on the roster who was capable of starting at center when they let Graham Glasgow go. So right now, there are no real viable centers on this team.

The Lions are backed into a corner right now. They need a starting center, and it has to be a guy who has experience and is good. They cannot draft someone, and they can’t move Tate Ratledge to center. They have risked it all.

They essentially just gave Thanos the time stone, and they’re in the endgame now. There are a thousand possibilities and only one way the Lions can win, and that is if they walk out of free agency with a starting center they can trust if their lives depended on it.

It can’t just be a guy with some starts under his belt. It has to be a dude that’s been up and down the road as a starter and can still go out and do it. I don’t know if the Lions trade for him or if they sign him, but they need to get him.

I don’t necessarily know who “him” is, even going to be. I’m confident it’s not going to be Tyler Linderbaum, I can tell you that. He’s not likely to make it to the market. But it should be Tyler Biadasz, Connor McGovern, or Hjalte Froholdt. Someone of that ilk. If Linderbaum does make it there, the Lions need to be on the phone, tying up the line and offering the biggest deal they’ve ever offered a free agent.

No matter what Detroit does, if this thing doesn’t end with the Lions’ general manager standing there with all the infinity stones in his gauntlet, saying, “And I am Brad Holmes” before he snaps his fingers, then the Lions are going to be in trouble.

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