During training camp, the Detroit Lions were hoping to have a full-on competition between Christian Mahogany and Ben Bartch (also, Juice Scruggs) for the starting left guard job. Unfortunately, Bartch missed a good chunk of training camp with an injury, and Scruggs had to slide to center to replace the injured Cade Mays. That left the job Mahogany’s to lose, and he never lost it.
But on Tuesday, coach Dan Campbell revealed that the competition is very much ongoing this week between Mahogany and Bartch,
who returned to camp for the last couple of weeks. The competition is so on that both players will be splitting first-team reps in practice this week.
“This week is going to be—today, they’re going to split (reps),” Campbell said. “I see them splitting on Thursday. I see them splitting on Friday.”
The battle is so close that Campbell is considering continuing that competition on Sunday by playing both players against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1.
“If nothing has been decided by then, then maybe they both play,” Campbell said.
Immediately, that will draw a negative reaction from Lions fans, who are still haunted by when former Lions coach Matt Patricia opted to run a guard rotation with Graham Glasgow, Kenny Wiggins, and Joe Dahl. But there is certainly a bit of a difference here. Detroit is still in the midst of determining their starter, thanks to the training camp injuries that delayed the competition. There’s enough reason to believe that eventually they will land on a starter, but that decision may not be made until we’re a few weeks into the season.
Mahogany, the team’s sixth-round pick in 2024, has the advantage of being in the offense for now his third year, and he has 12 starts under his belt, but he’s coming off a tough year. This is Bartch’s first year with the team, but he brings loads of experience (including 24 starts) and clear support from a Lions coaching staff that has hyped him up since they signed him in free agency.
“Bartch hasn’t been out there as much, but when he was out there, he was good,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said last week. “He performed well; he just wasn’t able to be out there as much. But I would say last week with the practices, the scrimmage, and that preseason game, he earned his spot.”
Because we’re no longer in training camp, media will only be able to see warmups and not be privy to the guard competition happening behind the scenes. But we will see, come kickoff, which player has at least temporarily won the left guard competition.
