{"id":970323,"date":"2026-08-11T14:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/970323\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:21:17","slug":"detroit-lions-options-at-center-after-cade-mays-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/970323\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions options at center after Cade Mays\u2019 injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit Lions fans were delivered some tough news to swallow on Monday morning when coach Dan Campbell revealed that starting center Cade Mays suffered an injury in training camp that will force him to miss \u201csignificant\u201d time<\/a>. Media reports suggest Mays has a broken bone in his wrist and will miss 8-10 weeks with the injury.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s particularly tough news, because the Lions clearly made upgrading the offensive line\u2014and particularly the center position\u2014a priority this offseason. Mays earned a three-year, $25 million contract with Detroit, the most the Lions spent on an external free agent this offseason.<\/p>\n

So what do the Lions do now? They clearly hold their offensive line to a very high standard, and we all saw what it looked like when that line doesn\u2019t live up to that standard last year. So today\u2019s Question of the Day is:<\/p>\n

Do the Lions need to add another center after Cade Mays\u2019 injury?<\/p>\n

My answer: In an ideal world, sure. It would be great to just add another starting center. In reality, that\u2019s going to be almost impossible unless Detroit would be willing to part with valuable draft assets.<\/p>\n

Just think back to this past offseason. There were several center-needy teams and very few on the free agency market. That\u2019s why Tyler Linderbaum got the ridiculous deal he got, and it\u2019s why the Lions got aggressive with Mays.<\/p>\n

This time of year, there aren\u2019t likely many (if any) teams that would just be willing to part with their starting center. That\u2019s going to increase the price. The Bears got Garrett Bradbury for a fifth-round pick, but the Patriots already had third-round pick Jared Wilson in place. With free agency and the draft well in the rear-view mirror, teams aren\u2019t likely to have a sufficient backup plan in order to trade their starting center away.<\/p>\n

There is maybe one exception: the Seattle Seahawks. Last year, the Seahawks had a camp battle for the starting center job between 2023 fifth-round pick Olu Oluwatimi and 2024 undrafted player Jalen Sundell. Oluwatimi suffered an injury in training camp, giving the job to Sundell, but Oluwatimi jumped back into the lineup when Sundell suffered a mid-season injury.<\/p>\n

Now it appears Sundell has hold of the job again, leaving Oluwatimi\u2014and his 13 career starts\u2014as an option for Detroit. It seems realistic the Lions could possibly pull him from Seattle for a 2027 Day 3 pick, if they deem him a fit.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more likely, however, is the team rolls with what they\u2019ve got. For one, while it sucks to lose Mays, he\u2019s only projected to miss just over a month of the season. The Lions may not want to part with draft resources for a five or six-game band aid\u2014particularly when that first leg of the schedule is relatively easy and includes zero divisional games. One player missing five games should not derail the entire season\u2014and if it does, there were far bigger problems.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Lions likely want to explore the options they already have. They\u2019ve talked highly of a center they\u2019ve already traded for, Juice Scruggs. The veteran lineman already has eight career starts at center\u2014earning a respectable 64.5 PFF grade over that stretch (19th out of 38 qualifying centers).<\/p>\n

Seth McLaughlin, who won the Rimington Trophy for best center in college football in 2024, is certainly an intriguing option as well. He hasn\u2019t had a chance to prove himself in the pros while recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in 2024, but he\u2019s already getting first-team reps in Detroit while Scruggs is sidelined.<\/p>\n

My guess\u2014and preference\u2014is the Lions just roll what they\u2019ve got, build that chemistry the best they can, then give the job back to Mays hopefully out of the team\u2019s Week 6 bye.<\/p>\n

Do you think the Lions should make a run at a new center? If so, who? Share your thoughts in the comment section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions fans were delivered some tough news to swallow on Monday morning when coach Dan Campbell revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":970324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[52105,84539,7,6],"class_list":["post-970323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-conversation-starters-and-community-questions","tag-detroit-lions-discussion","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117077323473671941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970323","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=970323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/970324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}