July 8, 2026, 6:24 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
As the month of July marches on, the first report dates<\/a> for the Detroit Lions<\/a>‘ 2026 training camp<\/a> are now less than three weeks away.<\/p>\n With excitement building for the 2026 Lions<\/a> campaign, CBS took a look at each franchise’s top storyline heading into training camp.<\/p>\n CBS writes that the biggest training camp storyline for the Lions is the offensive line shuffle in front of quarterback Jared Goff.<\/p>\n This was a tight call between the offensive line and the health of safeties\u00a0Brian Branch<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kerby Joseph<\/a>. Ultimately, the offensive line got the nod. All-Pro right tackle\u00a0Penei Sewell<\/a>\u00a0is switching to the left side after\u00a0Taylor Decker’s<\/a>\u00a0departure, and first-round pick\u00a0Blake Miller<\/a>\u00a0is taking over at right tackle.\u00a0Cade Mays<\/a>\u00a0is the new center and should add major size and power there, though this will be his first season as a full-time starter. Guards\u00a0Christian Mahogany<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tate Ratledge<\/a>\u00a0must step up. – Zachary Pereles, CBS<\/p>\n The Lions’ offensive line regression<\/a> was one of the primary factors that contributed to Detroit’s 9-8 record and fourth-place finish in the NFC North last season.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Per Pro Football Focus<\/a>, the Lions ranked 12th among the league’s 32 units in 2025. While that’s above the league average, it’s well below the standard that Lions run game coordinator and offensive line coach Hank Fraley had set in the two seasons prior.<\/p>\n After a lackluster 2025 season up front, the Lions’ biggest free agency move was to sign center Cade Mays<\/a> to a three-year, $25 million deal to help fortify its interior offensive line.<\/p>\n As he moves from right tackle to left<\/a>, Penei Sewell can be expected to remain one of the NFL’s best players regardless of position. Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge started 11 and 17 games at left and right guard last season, respectively, and the expectation is that both young players will take another step forward in 2026.<\/p>\n The Lions also went the direction everyone expected in the 2026 NFL Draft after its decision to release Taylor Decker<\/a>. Detroit drafted Clemson<\/a> offensive tackle Blake Miller with the No. 17 overall pick.<\/p>\n Miller is expected to be a plug-and-play right tackle<\/a>, which lines up with the Lions’ win-now position.<\/p>\n With a rookie in the equation, a new center and a position change for Sewell, the Lions’ training camp progress along its offensive line is certainly one of the top storylines to follow throughout Detroit’s 2026 camp.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 8, 2026, 6:24 p.m. ET As the month of July marches on, the first report dates for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,119937,52959,96502,95882,100085,100374,96029,107084,96242,96789,96689,95895,95906,97070,95883,99521,95881],"class_list":["post-940696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-lions","tag-accessfree","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-lions","tag-detroitlions","tag-football","tag-lions","tag-nfl","tag-sourcelions-wire","tag-sstssportsnfllions","tag-sstsnlions","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbrian-branch","tag-tagcade-mays","tag-tagcbs-corp","tag-tagchristian-mahogany","tag-tagdetroit-lions","tag-tagjared-goff","tag-tagkerby-joseph","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpenei-sewell","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtaylor-decker","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116888898372669657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}