Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions continue to work towards returning players from their injury lists, and on Wednesday, coach Dan Campbell announced that the team is starting the 21-day injury evaluation clock on rookie offensive lineman Miles Frasier.
The Lions traded up into the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft to select Frazier and hoped to get him in competition for a role this season. Unfortunately, Frazier injured his knee during, or shortly after, the rookie minicamp and landed on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list. After missing all of training camp and the first nine weeks of the regular season, Frazier is now healthy enough to get back on the practice field.
The Lions will now have 21 days to evaluate Frazier’s health before needing to either add him to the active roster or place him back on injured reserve, ending his season. While eligible to be activated from the evaluation period at any time, Frazier is expected to use the majority, if not all, of this time as he needs to maximize his acclimation to the NFL.
The Lions have high hopes for Frazier, and they believe they acquired him at an incredible value in the draft. General manager Brad Holmes even mentioned in the Lions “Inside the Den” draft episode that he would have likely considered taking Frazier at the end of the third round, had they still had their compensatory pick (that they traded away in the deal to acquire Isaac TeSlaa).
On Wednesday, Campbell expanded on the team’s excitement for Frazier:
“He’s versatile. He can play the guard (position). He can play tackle. He did both of those at LSU. He was a guy, man, he can sustain blocks. He’s got power, he’s pretty tenacious, he finishes. He was kinda the guy that just, you look around and you’re like, ‘This guy just always makes blocks. He’s just always on his guy, and he’s always finishing down the field.’ If he does get beat, it’s never fast. The guy has gotta try to freakin’ bull him, finally get an edge, the quarterback’s holding onto the ball, and it’s something late. Those are the things you want to see. Man, he takes good angles at the second level. So there’s a lot of things that we like about him. He’s just going to need reps.”
While the Lions have a potential need at left guard with starter Christian Mahogany expected to land on injured reserve in the near future, Frazier still has a way to go before he can realistically live up to his potential. That being said, Campbell did acknowledge that, like with Mahogany last season, as soon as they can get Frazier up to speed, they’ll give him the opportunity to compete.
