From the very first day of training camp, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell said he had his focus on the offensive line and how it would respond to losing both Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler this offseason.
“My eyes are on the O-Line,” Campbell said. “I want to see what that unit’s going to do and what’s going to come out of that. We need some guys to step up for us. It’s a great opportunity. We lost Frank, and Zeitler’s gone. So, we have two or three more spots there for guys to step up and help us.”
At the literal center of that discussion is veteran Graham Glasgow. Initially opening camp in at the more familiar right guard position after playing out of his comfort zone on the left last year, Glasgow has slid back to center for the past four practices, and it’s trending toward staying there. While he recently told the Detroit Free Press that he was looking forward to playing right guard, he told reporters on Monday that he’s enjoying the challenges that the center—a position he has plenty of experience at—offers
“I do like playing center. Center’s fun. I like the mental load that comes with it,” Glasgow said. “I think there’s–it’s a challenge, but I think that’s something that I’m pretty good at, so I like to do it. If it came to me having to play center and make the calls or me be a guard and then think about the calls anyways just to make sure that the calls were right, I’d probably rather just play center.”
That last point is important, because if Glasgow was playing a guard position, the protection calls may be on him anyways. That’s because he’s complemented by two very young interior offensive linemen: 2024 sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany (left guard) and rookie second-round pick Tate Ratledge (center/guard). With so little experience between those two, Glasgow is likely going to have the bear the load of protection responsibilities no matter what position he’s playing at.
“There’s always that type of pressure on the center to make sure that things are good and we’re going the right way and make sure it’s always the right tag, but going from me and Kevin and Frank to me and Tate and Christian—between Frank and Kevin that’s like 20 years of experience that’s gone now,” Glasgow said.
That being said, both the Lions and Glasgow have been encouraged by what they’ve seen with their young guard duo. Mahogany has basically played every snap with the starters at left guard, and does not look out of place.
“I like where he’s at, he’s a young player that’s contending to ascend and this whole camp’s going to be great for him. He’s doing a good job,” Campbell said.
“I think that Christian is really talented,” Glasgow said. “I think that he’s also–he played a lot of right guard in the past, too, I think he’s trying to figure it out in some regards, just some of the little things. But he’s a good player, I’m not too concerned about Christian figuring it out.”
As for Ratledge, the one thing that continues to stick out amongst anyone near him is his intelligence.
“I love how smart he is,” offensive coordinator John Morton said Monday. “He’s just going to continue to grow. I thought he did an exceptional job when he was at center, I mean, that’s a lot mentally. Different snap counts, and audible. It was a lot, I thought he did a pretty good job. I’m real happy where he’s at.”
Ultimately, there’s not a lot of drama on who the three interior starters will be, and at this point, it certainly seems like things are trending toward Graham being flanked by a pair of young guards. So now, building chemistry is the main goal.
“It’s just making sure that we can trust each other and that we know how we are going to do things,” Glasgow said. “I think that overall things have gone pretty well right now. I don’t really have a lot of complaints.”
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