Some thoughts on Lions' o-line with Ratledge at center, as well as three roster risers
Allen Park — As we enter a new week, and dip under two weeks until roster cutdowns, I wanted to weigh in on a few of the Detroit Lions’ developing situations.
Sifting through lineup combinations
When Dan Campbell announced starting center Cade Mays was going to be out for an extended period of time due to a wrist injury, the coach highlighted four candidates who could step in and fill the void.
That group included Juice Scruggs, Seth McLaughlin, Michael Niese and second-year right guard Tate Ratledge.
From the jump, Scruggs felt like the most logical solution. The Lions were high on his addition, picked up as part of the return for running back David Montgomery, initially thrusting him into the starting left guard competition.
When we had general manager Brad Holmes on the podcast in March, he was highly complimentary of Scruggs’ intangibles and his ability to play three spots, including center, which he demonstrated on tape while with the Texans.
And if you’re into PFF grades, Scruggs’ best stretch of his young career came during the eight starts he made at center in 2024.
However, it was McLaughlin who took all the first-team reps last week, and started the preseason opener, while Scruggs nursed a minor soft tissue issue.
There’s undeniable intrigue from fans in McLaughlin, the former Rimington Award winner as college football’s best center, who is less than two years removed from a torn Achilles that robbed him of critical rookie-year development.
By NFL standards, McLaughlin is average size for the position. By Detroit’s he’s on the small side. Frank Ragnow played between 315-320 pounds, and was additionally seen as one of the strongest players on the roster. Mays is listed at 325 and Scruggs is sitting at 320.
Here’s how Campbell described McLaughlin after the preseason debut, where he appeared to function well against the Bengals.
“Well, one of the things we talk about with Seth, he's not this enormous person,” Campbell said. “So, his niche is playing low. He's quick. He's super sharp and he's quick and he's really good at the second level. And then pass game is the anchor. He's just got to bend.
“In a lot of cases, he's got to do double what somebody else does that has more size or stature to him,” Campbell continued. “That's the hand he's dealt. I thought he did that the other night. I did think he anchored better. I thought he strained. I thought he tried to do all the little things and that's a credit to him. So, I certainly was not disappointed with him the other day.”
However, when the Lions returned to practice over the weekend, McLaughlin was back to working with the second-team offense. The top grouping was helmed by a rotation of Scruggs and Ratledge.
I’ll be the first to admit, I was dismissive of Detroit actually moving Ratledge from the right guard spot he played all four years at Georgia and every snap his rookie season. But the Lions seem to be legitimately considering the idea, so I have to put myself in their shoes and weigh the why.