For a few weeks now, we’ve been talking about the crossroads the Detroit Lions are facing at center. Cade Mays signed a three-year, $25 million deal this offseason to take that position, but after fracturing his wrist in training camp, it’s been Juice Scruggs holding down the pivot for the first five games of the season. Mays is set to return to play this week against the Green Bay Packers, but Scruggs has played so well that he’s deserved consideration to keep the job.
During his Wednesday radio
appearance on 97.1 The Ticket, Lions coach Dan Campbell more or less put the discussion to bed. All signs point to Cade Mays taking over at center this Sunday.
“We really worked the heck out of Cade yesterday. He got some quality reps, and we would like to give him a go here,” Campbell said. “… We’d like to just rip this Band-Aid off of Cade. I thought he had some good work yesterday. I thought he looked pretty good.”
In his answer, Campbell was sure to give his flowers to Scruggs and the job he’s done thus far.
“Juice has done a hell of a job for us,” Campbell said. “I’ve mentioned this before, I’m going to continue to say it: thank goodness we got Juice, man. He’s been outstanding for us.”
One out-of-the-box option to ease Mays in would be for him to rotate with Scruggs throughout the game. However, Campbell made it blatantly clear he was not interesting in doing that, as it could disrupt a ton of the offensive operation.
“I don’t see us doing that,” Campbell said. “You go around and around, and all these questions come in. It’s different than a guard. Jon, you know that. A guard and a center is totally different. That guy’s touching the ball. The snap count is different. Everything: the snap, the timing, the calls, the quarterback’s comfort with one guy over and over.”
So it appears Mays is in line to make his first start for the Lions on Sunday, while Scruggs will be both the primary backup center and compete for time at left guard.
