Pride of Detroit
Guard is one of the Detroit Lions’ biggest needs in the 2025 NFL Draft. Here are some players that may interest them.
Way back during his end-of-season press conference in January, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he would not ignore the team’s offensive line this offseason.
“That’s the engine for us,” Holmes said. “And so, I don’t care how good we ever get on the offensive line, that one right there is too important for not only our team, our quarterback, everything, it’s our identity, man. So, I think just that alone is just – it’s always going to be at the forefront.”
Yet here we are, three months later, and the Lions have lost one of their starters from last year (Kevin Zeitler) and have added exactly zero external players. Does that mean they’re going to add an offensive lineman in this year’s draft? Not necessarily, Holmes doesn’t tie himself to needs on draft weekend. But I think it’s fair to say he’ll be looking.
Previous Lions draft previews:
Under contract: Frank Ragnow (2026), Graham Glasgow (2026), Christian Mahogany (2027), Kayode Awosika (2025), Netane Muti (2025), Michael Niese (2025), Kingsley Eguakun
Short-term need: 5/10
Long-term need: 8/10
Could the Lions get away with not drafting a starting-capable guard? Yes, I suppose. There are far worse starting lineups than one that would feature Graham Glasgow and Christian Mahogany. But general manager Brad Holmes noted that they weren’t quite ready to hand Mahogany a starting job and are still looking to add to the position.
“He is still a young player, so we still need to make sure that he has competition,” Holmes said. “And it’s part of—we bring (Ka)yode back and we’ll still be looking at possibly another veteran to add, and you still have the draft.”
Looking beyond this year, the need for a long-term guard is pretty clear. Only Mahogany is signed behind 2026, and it’s entirely possible the Lions opt to move on from Glasgow even sooner if his play doesn’t improve from 2024. Glasgow is facing an $8.4 million cap hit in 2026, and only $1.4 of that is guaranteed—giving Detroit an opportunity to save $7 million in cap space during an offseason in which they’ll need it.
But the Lions aren’t just going to cut a talented player. They’ll need a plan to replace him, and that’s what makes drafting a guard this year very realistic. Hell, depending on what Ragnow’s plan for the future is, it may be time to start considering the long-term plan at center, too.
Reminder There are some common disagreements on whether prospects are best classified as a tackle or a guard. Think of this as Part 2 of a two-part article on the offensive line. If you don’t see your favorite OL prospect here, they were probably in our tackle preview.
-...
