Christian Mahogany has gotten a golden opportunity to prove that he can be the Detroit Lions' long-term solution at left guard moving forward.
So far, he has taken that opportunity by the horns. He consistently tops out as one of the highest-graded guards each week following Lions games, he remains out of trouble penalty-wise, and he's done an excellent job of simply remaining available and healthy. That's a heck of a lot more than you can say about his former competition, Ben Bartch, who remains on the outside looking in on the Lions' left guard rotation.
With Cade Mays' impending return, though, a new competitor will be entering the ring against Mahogany for that left guard spot: Juice Scruggs. The lineman has been a revelation for Detroit this season, going from a likely second-string option at guard to their starting center through four weeks. Now, he'll get a shot at taking Mahogany out of his spot at left guard. But should the Lions really mess with their rotation like this?
Pros and cons of experimenting with LG rotation
The Lions' original plan at this position was to experiment with a rotation between Mahogany and Bartch. Neither have been healthy the same time as one another, however, and Mahogany's steady improvement at the position has made it unnecessary to mess with his rhythm here. A pro of getting Scruggs some snaps here, though, could be just having some insurance at an injury-prone position along the line.
Mahogany has played in just 21 games over his three-year career with the Lions, starting in just 15 of those appearances. He has three starts in three games played this year, and he's been great, posting a 86.7 overall PFF grade for 2026. That's good for 2nd-best overall amongst eligible guards.
Again, though, health has to be in the minds of the Lions' staff, so getting Scruggs comfortable with stepping into this job is important.
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The con, of course, is taking valuable snaps away from Mahogany when he's obviously getting better and better with each start. Additionally, taking recent comments from head coach Dan Campbell into account regarding the offense, it feels like a bad move to put Jared Goff at any risk of sacks or pressures with such a precarious situation on defense right now.
“Our discipline is not good enough across the board and we’re playing very average football right now. And that’s everywhere. That’s not just defense. We’ve gotta pick up the slack on offense and special teams right now," he said on 91.7 FM The Ticket on Tuesday morning.
You're likely to get averaege results on offense by plugging in your guard-turned-center-turned-guard again at LG, rather than riding things out with your currently great guard. We'll see what the Lions even end up doing with Scruggs once Mays is back, but overall, it's nice that they have such a good problem: too much good depth along the line.
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