The Detroit Lions suffered their most significant training camp injury on Sunday, as prized free agent Cade Mays suffered a wrist injury and will miss a “significant period of time.” According to a report from Ian Rapoport, Mays’ injury is expected to sideline him for “roughly 8-10 weeks,” meaning he should be back by the middle of the regular season.
“Cade Mays had a wrist injury,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said at his Monday morning press conference. “He will be out for a significant period of time.
He will be back for the season at some point, but it’ll be down the road.”
Following an unanticipated retirement of Frank Ragnow in 2025 and a lackluster performance from Graham Glasgow during the regular season, the Lions entered the 2026 offseason looking to make significant upgrades at the center position.
The Lions acted quickly in free agency, targeting Mays and signing him to a 3-year, $25 million contract and hoping he could anchor the center of the offensive line. Through the first two weeks of training camp, Mays performed well, and the Lions were optimistic he would be a pivotal player for them this season.
“Of course, you hate it. I hate it for him, because I felt like he was having a good camp and he had grown so much in our system just in spring,” Campbell continued. “So, in that regard, yeah. And for us, too. But at the same time, again, there’s a reason why we’ve got Juice (Scruggs) here, too, and some of these other guys. And they’re going to get a look.”
To help bolster their center position, the Lions also traded with the Texans (as part of the deal for David Montgomery) for Juice Scruggs. During training camp, Scruggs filled multiple reserve roles on the offensive line, including backing up Mays at center, while also filling in at left guard with the starters until Christian Mahogany returned to training camp practices.
Unfortunately, Scruggs is also dealing with a soft tissue injury at this time, but he is expected to recover soon and should jump into the competition to replace Mays and will likely be considered the early favorite for the job.
“Juice is dealing with a little bit of an injury—a soft tissue—so he won’t be out there today,” Campbell shared. It’ll still be a few more days before he’s back. But certainly Juice is a candidate.”
In addition to Scruggs, the Lions also have two more players with center experience, including Michael Niese—who was the Lions backup center in previous seasons—and Seth McLaughlin, who will be working with the starters in Monday’s practice.
“McLaughlin is going to get looks, obviously. He’ll probably run mostly with the ones today,” Campbell continued. “Niese has also done it.”
But the Lions won’t be satisfied simply filling an open spot with a reserve, and they will explore all their options to find the best starting five players to deploy on the offensive line, including continuing starting right guard Tate Ratledge’s cross-training at center.
“Ratledge is going to work (at center). I don’t see him doing team (drills at center), but we’ve got to get him back up to speed with doing a little snapping, just in case,” Campbell explained.
On a positive note, the Lions still have half their training camp practices and three preseason games to figure out what works best for them to be ready for the season.
“We’re going to find the best five. We will find the best five, and we’re trying to find that before camp starts, but, look, if this goes into the season, it does. But at some point, we will find the best five and where they belong, and they’ll be ready.”
