The Detroit Lions have endured a crisis along their offensive line this season, not only losing multiple players to injury, but suffering inconsistency from those who have played a regular role.
One player they hadn't seen up close was guard Miles Frazier. The Lions drafted Frazier in the fifth-round, and hoped to get an immediate impact out of the youngster. Instead, he was shelved with a knee injury right after he began practicing and then lost for the majority of this season.
Frazier worked his way back to health, was activated and was thrust into action against the Dallas Cowboys. Expecting a rookie who didn't see any time in camp or the preseason to have success in their first taste of NFL action is a tall order, but Frazier held his own in the 44-30 victory.
Dan Campbell revealed that it was the plan all along to get the youngster's feet wet in the league, and are hoping to bring him along like they did with 2024 sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany, who made a late-season debut. All told, Campbell liked what he saw from Frazier.
"He's a young guy. This is about when we threw (Christian) Mahogany in there last year. So, we just wanted to get a look at him. It was just to get him introduced to NFL and try to be smart. You still want to move the football, but yet try to set him up to where he can have some success. He earned the right to keep going. He did good enough to where, all right, let's give him another series. Really, we didn't have intentions of giving him as much as we did. We just wanted to introduce him and he did some good things it felt like."
Detroit's line played well in the game, allowing the team to rush for 109 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. It was the kind of performance that helps jump-start the confidence of a team. Having Frazier win some reps in that kind of environment can also help him get comfortable and start his career in a positive way.
Taylor Decker's message for the offensive line should resonate with Frazier
As for what's next, the Detroit line has to continue to find a way to win at the point of attack. The Lions know that stepping up their game up front is the key to a late-season turnaround, and the road map was provided by the lead-up to the Cowboys game.
Decker, the veteran leader up front, sent his teammates a message last week that should resonate down the stretch. According to him, the Lions just need to do their job individually and let the rest take care of itself.
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"Win your one-on-ones. Beat the guy over you. Be detailed in that. And don't worry about the big picture of how we're going to call this game, how we're going to attack this defense. Win your one-on-ones. Because that's a good front (Dallas) has, at least for us as an offensive line. So, we need to win our one-on-ones to allow our skill guys to do their thing. We know moving forward the defensive lines aren't going to get worse. They might get better. Just win your one-on-ones, compete and be detailed."
For Frazier, that is good advice. The youngster just needs to find a way to win his individual reps and keep his head above water when he is on the field. After his first week of action, there's a good reason to believe that can be the case.