Cade Mays doesn’t have a firm timeline for when he’ll return from the broken right wrist he suffered in training camp, but the Detroit Lions center confirmed he could be back on the field next month.
Mays injured his wrist in practice Aug. 9 and the Lions placed him on injured reserve to start the season.
NFL Network reported at the time Mays would be out eight to 10 weeks with the injury, which would put him on track to return somewhere around the Lions’ Week 6 bye.
Players who start the season on IR with a designation to return must miss at least the first four games.
The Lions open the season this Sunday, Sept. 13, against the New Orleans Saints and play the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers the next three weeks. Mays is eligible
to return for the Lions’ Oct. 11 game against the Arizona Cardinals, but the team is off the next week.
In his first public comments since the injury, Mays told the Free Press on Tuesday, Sept. 8, he’s rehabbing with trainers and waiting for their all-clear to return to practice, and he said there’s been no talk of him trying to snap with his left hand.
Juice Scruggs is expected to start at center until Mays' returns.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff said Tuesday, Sept. 8, he felt the offensive line “really … coming together with Juice leading the show there” in the last week of training camp. Scruggs missed time early in camp with a soft tissue injury and worked primarily with the second-team offense at center and guard before his injury.
“I think that last week of training camp really came together with him and I,” Goff said. “It’s just reps dude. It’s just like anything else, like throwing to a receiver, it’s the same way. He’s got to feel comfortable with my cadence and my rhythm and I got to feel comfortable with his rhythm of making the calls and all that. It’s been good.”
The Lions are set at four of the five spots on their offensive line, with Penei Sewell at left tackle, Scruggs at center and Tate Ratledge and rookie Blake Miller at right guard and right tackle.
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Lions coach Dan Campbell said before practice Tuesday that he planned to rotate Christian Mahogany and Ben Bartch at left guard in practice this week and both could play in Sunday’s game.
“I know there’s still things going on at left guard, but Tate, Blake and Penei have been as steady as anything and then the guys who are competing at left guard have been great, too,” Goff said. “It’s still a work in progress as far as the gelling comes, but the last week of training camp was really good and I thought the stuff they put on tape in the preseason was really good.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cade Mays injury update: Lions center eyeing mid-October return
