The Detroit Lions do not feel good about their left guard situation. Thursday made that pretty clear when the team tried out two starting-caliber guards, and the reasoning is simple: there has been no real competition at left guard this entire training camp. Christian Mahogany has the job by default, not because he won it.

Why the left guard battle never happened

You have to understand just how badly this competition has gone. Mahogany has remained healthy for most of camp, and that’s about the only positive thing you can say. Juice Scruggs got some early reps, then went down with a soft tissue injury. While Scruggs was out, Cade Mays got hurt. When Scruggs came back, the Lions had to immediately move him to center. Ben Bartch didn’t participate at OTAs or mandatory minicamp, came into training camp hurt, and then suffered a concussion when he finally returned. Michael Niese has been sliding over to center because Detroit wanted to see what he could do there, and it’s not clear he had much of a stake in the left guard competition anyway. Giovanni Manu practiced one day this entire summer, did it at tackle, and never even got the opportunity to try guard.

It’s been a disaster. The entire left guard battle has been a massive failure because there has been no battle. Mahogany has looked fine. He could do the job. But Lions coach Dan Campbell has refused to just come out and say he’s the starting left guard. Training camp is a week from being over, and Detroit needs to start preparing for the New Orleans Saints. We still don’t know who is going to start at left guard.

Laken Tomlinson and Will Hernandez make sense for the Lions

That brings us to Thursday, when the Lions tried out two guards. The first is a familiar name: Laken Tomlinson, the Lions’ first-round pick in 2015. Now, I know what some fans are thinking. The two years Tomlinson spent in Detroit didn’t go well, and he wound up getting traded to San Francisco. But things went really well with the 49ers. He made a Pro Bowl. If you’re thinking of Tomlinson as the guy who played for Jim Bob Cooter and Matt Patricia, that’s not the player you’d be getting. He is a much better player now, and he didn’t have offensive line coach Hank Fraley during that first stint. It’s a whole different world with the Lions’ offense now. I think Tomlinson fits this thing perfectly. He is 34 years old, so it would be a Kevin Zeitler-type situation where he’s a little older but can still play. He could come in and compete with Mahogany, and he honestly could beat him for the job.

The other tryout was Will Hernandez, who might actually have the leg up here because Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing was his offensive coordinator for the last three years in Arizona. Everybody wanted Hernandez in Detroit last year when Kevin Zeitler wasn’t coming back. It made a lot of sense then, and it makes even more sense now because the Lions still won’t tell us who’s starting at left guard.

What this means for Mahogany and the Lions

If the Lions aren’t telling us who the starter is, that feels indicative of the idea that they’re just not comfortable with Mahogany right now. They don’t feel as good about it as some of us do. And we’re not the ones who get to choose.

If Detroit signs one of these guys, the battle is on, but it’s going to be a short one. It could even extend into the regular season. Maybe Mahogany starts Week 1, and then the Lions try Tomlinson or Hernandez in Week 2 to see where it goes. By midway through the season, you should know who the full-time starting left guard is going to be.

So far, the Lions have not signed either player, and they have a preseason game on Saturday. I doubt they sign anyone before that, but you never know. If I’m the Lions, I’m thinking strongly about Laken Tomlinson. We’ll see what happens.

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