Generally speaking, we have a pretty good idea of what the Detroit Lions’ starting offensive and defensive lines are going to look like for the 2026 season. While there will likely be a few training camp battles to weed out (left guard, EDGE2, and maybe right tackle), the key players have already been identified.
However, the depth at each position is very much up for grabs. This offseason, the Lions devoted a lot of resources to their offensive line reserves. They added Juice Scruggs, Ben Bartch,
Larry Borom, and Seth McLaughlin to compete with the likes of Miles Frazier, Giovanni Manu, Michael Niese, and Colby Sorsdal, among others.
Things are even more convoluted on the defensive side. With so many different roles on the line—nose tackle, 3-tech, “big” end, “rush” end, etc.—Detroit has several different archetypes who can fill one or multiple roles. Players like Ahmed Hassanein are switching positions from rush to big end, but is the competition there too competitive for the 2025 draft pick to make the roster? What does the drafting of Skyler Gill-Howard mean for the future of Mekhi Wingo? Is Levi Onwuzurike on the roster bubble given his injury history, or is he Detroit’s best option as a versatile backup to pretty much every position? Who will win the backup nose tackle job? And can Payton Turner turn his career around?
On this week’s episode of the Midweek Mailbag, Erik Schlitt and I break down a lot of the roster bubble, which players are in competition for the same roster spot, and identify the different roles that Detroit needs to fill on both sides of the ball.
Other topics on this week’s episode include (in chronological order):
- Will Kerby Joseph start training camp on the PUP list?
- Could Luke Altmyer realistically win the QB2 job or is he simply trying to make a case to keep a QB3?
- The things we’re most excited to see in training camp
- How will the preseason games change with no joint practices? Will Detroit be better prepared to start the season?
- Breaking down the pros/cons for the starting left guard candidates
- Which Lions player has the best odds to lead the entire NFL in a statistical category (ie: Jared Goff passing yards)
- Ranking the Lions’ seasons of the Dan Campbell era
You can listen to the entire podcast using your favorite podcasting platform by searching “Pride of Detroit,” or you can use the embedded player below:
Additionally, there’s a ton of bonus content from this episode if you want to watch the video version, which is available on our YouTube and Twitch pages.
