One of the biggest training camp battles facing the Detroit Lions this preseason is the starting left guard competition. While the team is hoping that the three preseason games will help resolve who will start, there was not much progress there in the first game.
Christian Mahogany started and was up and down with a penalty. He did not lock down the job, but Miles Frazier might have made a strong case for himself. He committed three penalties to close out the first half.
With the two other names in the guard competition missing the game, the competition remains wide open.
Detroit Lions Left Guard Competition Remains Wide Open
GettyChristian Mahogany
Juice Scruggs and Ben Bartch missed the game. The two have more NFL experience than Mahogany and Frazier. Still, neither of them will be able to win a starting offensive line spot if they are both unhealthy.
Scruggs is also likely to slide over to center now that Cade Mays will miss time into the regular season. He started at center for the Houston Texans during his rookie season, and the team lacks experience there otherwise.
Bartch appears to be healthier, but the team has been easing him into team activity. Head coach Dan Campbell is adamant that Bartch will remain in the competition. However, we are nearing three weeks, and he has hardly been involved.
This left Frazier and Mahogany as the two candidates available in the preseason. While the hope was to get some resolution, this competition will carry into the second week of the preseason.
Lions Have To Keep Trying at Left Guard in Preseason
Mahogany is the most likely to hold the job down. Considering two of the others were hurt, and the third committed more penalties against weaker competition, it is fair to say that he still is the leader in the competition.
Still, the Lions would like for him to win the competition rather than be handed it by default. The former sixth-round pick would be entering his second season as a starter.
He was a depth piece during his rookie year and started just one game. Then, he was thrown into the mix in year two. He started 11 games and played 699 snaps. With the 75 snaps he played during his rookie season, he has 774 snaps played.
He missed six games due to injury, which is why the competition remains up for grabs.
Scruggs has 950 career snaps at left guard, and Bartch has 912 snaps in that spot. So, those two are not out of the picture by any means. However, Mahogany combines youth, potential, and starting experience. The other two lack in the other areas.
Still, the team clearly wants Mahogany to earn the spot. If he can flash in any way during the next couple of weeks, the spot will be his. Beyond that, if the others do not start to play better, he will end up with the same fate. It was not a great start, but Mahogany was a winner in the preseason opener.
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