There's been quite a bit of turnover on the Detroit Lions' offensive line, both with their starting unit and their backups.
Penei Sewell is on the left side of the line now. The Lions' starting center is in flux due to Cade Mays' wrist injury suffered in training camp, but Juice Scruggs has been stepping up there. The teams' first round pick from 2026, Blake Miller, is fighting to start at right tackle against a journeyman in Larry Borom. And, their left guard room is really up in the air.
Still, those changes and the teams' depth additions behind those roles have improved a ton from their 2025 season, where injuries revealed just how thin their reinforcements were. Headed into 2026, head coach Dan Campbell felt good enough to sing the praises of the new-look unit on day one of camp:
"I feel like what comes out of that room, those five, it's going to be better than what we had last year. It's going to be an upgrade. And, not just a little bit -- I believe that."
Coming out of the preseason, and specifically the teams' final preseason game of the year where they played no starters, one stat really reflected just how improved their O-line is headed into the regular season: Detroit was a perfect 2-2 on 4th down conversions on the afternoon, and a solid 13-19 on third downs.
Lions' offensive line is already primed to help team bounce back in one area
Detroit was only converting on 38.8 percent of 3rd downs in 2025, and were middle of the pack at 4th down conversions with a 58.1 percent rate.
In 2024, when the Lions' offensive line was still anchored by a tandem of Sewell and Taylor Decker, and when they had Frank Ragnow at center, they were the fourth-best team in the league on 3rd down with a rate of 47.6 percent, and 7th-best in the league at 4th down conversions with a 66.7 percent rate.
These conversions help to eat a chunk of clock, and keep the Lions' offense humming. They can't get into a rhythm without these key conversions, and they were sorely missing that consistency in 2025.
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If even their bench is capable of forcing longer possessions by assisting on these conversions more consistently, it's a great sign for their starting line which is expected to help revitalize their offense in that department and, specifically, on the ground.
Backups like Mason Miller, Melvin Priestly, and Ben Bartch were really working in their final preseason audition for Detroit, although it's hard to see a spot for all three on this roster. Miller took snaps at center with Seth McLaughlin in concussion protocol, and even he looked decent as a run blocker despite it being a new role for him in training camp.
He may be the sole member of this trio to survive cuts due to McLaughlin's injury, but the jury's still out on that one.
Their depth and versatility is much-improved, and they certainly proved Campbell's point about that in this preseason win.
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