Lions Draft 2025: an interior offensive line perspective for each round

The only starting point open to the Detroit lions The offensive arrives at the front, after the right guard, Kevin Zeitler, chose to leave for the Titans du Tennessee in free agency. The depth was already a problem on the interior offensive line, making Guard / Center the greatest immediate need for the new offensive coordinator John Morton and his staff to fill.

Fortunately, it’s a very good year of project for needing help on the interior offensive line.

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The lions will not write an interior offensive line player on each turn, of course. The objective here is to show what types of talent is suitable for lions in each cycle of the project to help identify talents, as well as the relative value that projects are available for Strait in these cycles. For example, here is CB last year for each round that set Ennis Rakestraw as the second round photok.

Detroit has no choice in the fifth round, but transactions occur all the time, so it is included here. The prospects of the first three laps here are biased towards the place where the lions will currently select each turn: n ° 28, 60 and 102 in total, respectively. Approximate round project projections are from April 14.

Position

The lions must replace the right guard Zeitler after a year. The recruit of the sixth round of last season, Christian Mahany, looked like the long -term solution of his hearing at the end of the season.

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The Graham Glasgow left guard returns, but it’s a place where the lions can improve. Glasgow has been the lowest PFF offensive player in the last six weeks of the season, and the view of the view has validated his brutal score. He will be 33 years old this summer and the lions have a fairly easy exit on his contract after 2025, so a long -term replacement has an urgent need here, even if Glasgow bounces for a better season to come (and he can!)

The center takes place with All-Pro Frank Rugnow, who admitted after the season that he was healthier that he had not felt it for some time. The 28 -year -old fought by injuries but remains locked as a leader of the line and is under contract until 2026. Glasgow is his main backup, which is (still) the role for which the veteran is best suited to this stadium.

The rest of the depth is to be won. Kayode Awosika returns and has proven a racing blocker capable in service, although it is probably revealing that a player with his experience could not even obtain the League-Minimum contract offers this offseason elsewhere. The enigmatic Giovanni Manu, that the lions used the choice of third round of this year to obtain in the draft of the NFL 2024, is very large for a guard – in addition to being a complete Greenhorn of football. However, coach Dan Campbell left the potential open for Manu to play inside. Colby Sorsdal quickly ignited his tackle move to the guard too. The veteran Netane Muti pushed Glasgow in the training camp last summer before undergoing another major injury (shoulder), something that shifted the 26 -year -old throughout his football career. In case of health, Muti is an ideal n ° 3 guard. Large “if” …

Kingsley Eguakun, a recruit not drafted in 2024, can challenge the role of the rescue center, just like Michael Niese, who returns for a second season. In total, the depth could be worse, but it can also be upgraded for 2025 and beyond in this project.

First round: Donovan Jackson, Ohio State

There is perhaps an even better perspective in Tackle after its main turn in the left tackle in the race of the title of Ohio State, but Jackson is generally considered to be an NFL goalkeeper. Jackson is the rare case of a five -star recruit which also qualifies as a late college, making a big jump in his technical skills and his strength in 2024.

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What I like::

• Beginning of 3 years in a pro -style offense that uses blocking patterns similar to lions

• Ideal construction for a 6 -foot 4 inch and 315 pound guard with strong arms and large hands

• Supports the blocks at an elite level

• Good extractor with power and vision

• Excellent anchor strength at the same time in the custody and the tackle

• You quickly get involved in both teams and keep your eyes and feet ready to move away and help

• Fast initial punch that has improved in the placement of the hand in ’24

• Quickly adapted to pass the protective tasks to the left tackle (2 bags in the beginnings against Penn State, then did not allow a QB stroke in the next eight games)

• Facred for two penalties in its last 2,000 snaps

• 4 times academic All-Big Ten

Negative::

• The hands always increase the consistency and will sometimes become too wide

• Not always sudden snap

• Will go too far on his skis in second -level blocks and will lose the lever effect

• Fighting with the frequency of the feet earlier in his mandate in Buckeyes

Second round: Tate Ratlege, Georgia

Ratlege brought the intensity as a three -year start to the right guard for Georgia. It is a higher prospect at 6 feet 6 inches but does not often lose the lever battle.

What I like:

• Very good athlete in the short region with quick feet and an excellent balance

• Play with a good level of pad in protecting passes

• Force and speed of impressive recovery

• Play as if he wanted to punish his opponent every moment

• Explodes the snap and can move people in the racing game

• Decent recovery athletics if it is initially beaten

• Can reach the second level and engage with control

Negatives:

• Guilty of playing with blinders at times (Notre Dame and the Texas final games stand out here)

• Has a natural turn but may be slow to take place and move laterally

• Hand movements of the second act are slow and often too high

• Underwent rope surgery in 2024 for a sprain with the left left ankle; failed the 2021 season with a foot injury suffered in the 4th game of the year

• Has never played right and does not seem to offer capacities in the center or the attacker

Third round: Charles Grant, William & Mary

Grant comes from the same FCS program as Colby SORSDAL, starting with the left tackle while SOSDAL was on the right side for two seasons together. Grant offers more care in the NFL but could stay in the tackle in the right situation. He is more a development player than an asset plug-and-play in his recruit season.

What I like:

• Giant wing (more than 81 inches) and long length

• Manual balance and leaning in the protection of passes

• Quick decent mirror at its outer shoulder

• The wrestling background manifests in tight districts

• Good range in the race game

• Can run his hips and drive his feet impressively in the racing game

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Negatives:

• Always becoming in bulk; won more than 60 pounds at university and could continue to add more

• Did not face a high level competition and the gap showed during the week of the Senior bowl

• Impatient in the protection of passes and will move a good position

• Need varnish in his placement by hand and his position discipline at the brochure or on guard

Fourth Tour: Seth McLaughlin, Ohio State

McLaughlin would have almost certainly been a choice among the 75, and perhaps the best real center of the draft, if not for an injury of Achilles suffered in practice in November. He still won the Rimington Award as the best university football center despite the last six games in Ohio State.

What I like:

• Starting three years in two high -level programs (played 4 years in Alabama before transferring to Ohio State)

• Compact frame for a guy who measures 6-4 and 304; does not seem so tall in person

• Exceptional to pre-SNAP recognition and blocking configuration

• Very good handplay and reactionary speed for against rush counters

• Strong strength of anchoring with rapid resets

• Quickly goes out in the second level

• Has a little rumble at his game

• Alabama graduate with a GPA of 4.0

Negatives:

• At least the start of his recruited season will be missing when he recovers with Achilles surgery

• Never played in the center and may not have the size to play guard

• Short -term reinforcement (31 inches) and this shows in its second level level engagement

• Had a penalty problem in Alabama (10 in two years)

Fifth round: Luke Kandra, Cincinnati

Kandra improved each year at university, after her head coach by moving from Louisville to Cincinnati in the past two seasons. He is a player that our Russell Brown profiled this offseason earlier. Lions fans who loved the fourth round, Logan Stenberg, but who did not like his penalty style, should find Kandra quite attractive.

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What I like:

• He looks a lot the part of an NFL guard at 6 feet 4 inch and 315 with a powerful framework

• Impressive shoulder force and central force

• To his best concept of gap / duo as the favor of lions in the race game

• Very fast hands and quick reactions in the upper body

• Strangely good blocker in passing protection

• Guilty of a sanction imposed in college

• Play through the last whisper of each whistle

Negatives:

• Athletic speed in the upper body stops at its hips

• Does not have a functional beach beyond about two steps in any direction

• At 24 in August and could have maximized athletically already

Sixth round: Luke Newman, Michigan State

From three years old to the left tackle for Holy Cross, Newman played a season at Michigan State as a graduate transfer and kicked inside for the left guard. He was quietly one of the best versatile guards in the country.

What I like:

• Played nearly 3,000 shots of university football between Holy Cross and Msu

• Explosive athlete with quick feet and nervous construction

• High-body and strong handle force

• Provides coherent power on range assignments

• Played a center during Shrine Bowl week and took it very quickly

• Bull squares rush well

• Excels in selling game counterfeits

Negatives:

• The lateral range is at best on average and sacrifices power when you reach the side

• Will lay down his head when he sometimes commits

• Short arms (31 inches) and does not always strike a complete extension in the race blocks

• Projects better at the center than a guardian even if he has never played the center in a game; learning curve

Seventh round: Addison West, Western Michigan

Underdimensive and underexposed while playing in the Mac, West won the All-American status of the first team as a senior, granting only two QB and zero bags all season. Despite this, West was a combined snob.

What I like

• Played in a very lions-family locking scheme as a 3-year starter

• Statistically the best goalkeeper in the country in the protection of passes in 2024 by PFF

• Experience of playing the three interior positions, but mainly in RG

• Very good to reach second level targets

• Wins with fast hands / feet and very impressive reactionary speed

Negatives:

• On the smaller side to 6-2 / 300 and its frame is maximum

• The anchoring force is less than the average

• More than one fold operator than a stand in the racing game

• Fight against penalties before 2024 (had 17 combined in 2022-23)

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions Draft 2025: an interior offensive line perspective for each round