Detroit Lions change up the interior of their offensive line

The Detroit Lions appear to be changing up the entire interior of their offensive line following the release and retirement of right guard T.J. Lang.

Since taking over as the general manager of the Detroit Lions in early 2016, Bob Quinn’s top priority has been improving Motown’s offensive line play. Quinn spent two first round picks (Taylor Decker, Frank Ragnow) and signed pricey veterans like right guard T.J. Lang and right tackle Rick Wagner to shore up the positional group.

Unfortunately, Lang’s time with the Lions was short and injury-plagued. The 31-year was released by Detroit earlier this year and has subsequently retired. And outside of signing veteran guard Oday Aboushi in free agency, the Lions did nothing else to address Lang’s absence this offseason.

Instead, it was believed Detroit would search in-house for a replacement for Lang. And after the team’s first OTA session, we now have a better idea of how the Lions’ might address his absence. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, photos from OTA’s show the team has shifted left guard Ragnow to center. And last year’s center, the versatile Graham Glasgow, to right guard in place of Lang. You can view those photos here.

Here’s DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman’s quick breakdown of the questions surrounding the Lions’ offensive line prior to the start of OTA’s.

"“Does Kenny Wiggins get most of the time with the first-team unit? Will veteran Oday Aboushi get first-team reps? How well will second-year tackle Tyrell Crosby handle taking some snaps at guard? … Can one of the undrafted rookies, like Wisconsin’s Ben Benzschawel, impress?”"

Although it’s unclear in the photos, it appears as if Kenny Wiggins is playing at left guard in place of Ragnow along the new, reshuffled offensive line in Detroit. Wiggins played 10 games for the injured Lang last season at right guard and was expected to be the top candidate to replace him along with the newly acquired Aboushi.

Keep in mind that this was simply the first day of OTA’s. This could just be the Detroit Lions testing out a new combination of players in different positions in an attempt to find the best fits. And the formation could easily change as the offseason progresses as it’s certainly not ideal to invest an entire season of development to players like Frank Ragnow and Graham Glasgow at one position along the line only to force them to restart and relearn another for this upcoming year.