What will Detroit Lions do on OL after devastating Cade Mays injury?
Lions insider Dave Birkett reacts Aug. 10, 2026, to center Cade Mays being sidelined with an injury, and looks ahead to the preseason opener Aug. 13.
Video Transcript
Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press here.
It's week one of the preseason.
The Lions open exhibition play against the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday in Cincinnati.
We'll talk about that game in a sec, but first, the big news of the week, the Cade Mays injury.
Cade Mays injured his wrist.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he's gonna miss a significant portion of time.
NFL Network reported eight to 10 weeks likely, and if that timeline is to be believed, he won't be back, Cade Mays won't be back, that is, until after the Lions' bye, around the Lions' bye week.
It's a week six bye, but let's, let's say after the bye for purposes of, of this discussion.
Regardless of when he comes back, it's a big loss for the Lions.
This is a team that targeted the center position.
They didn't do a whole lot in free agency, but they went out and got Cade Mays in hopes of solidifying the interior, interior of their line.
Now, I will tell you this: they are deeper, the Lions are deeper when it comes to interior backups.
But they already had Juice Scruggs on their roster.
That trade with the Houston Texans was in the works well before they signed Cade Mays.
They already sort of knew what they had in Tate Ratledge, and he doesn't wanna play center.
He might end up being the team's best option.
I think Juice Scruggs will get the first look when he comes back from his soft tissue injury.
The Lions do have some depth at guard, so it could turn out to be a case of Tate Ratledge being the best option.
They played Ben Bartch, Miles Frazier, one of those guys at the right guard spot.
I wouldn't think that's gonna happen because Cade Mays, if he's back early enough in the season, you want this line to have some opportunity to gel.
And again, Tate Ratledge's preference would be to stay at guard.
The Lions, they need that offensive line to be right if they're gonna go far this year.
You know, we've seen some up-and-down play from Blake Miller.
I think he's gonna have some rookie growing pains this year, but he's gonna be a good player in time.
Obviously, Penei Sewell is Penei Sewell on the left side, and Ratledge and Mahogany have some experience, at least, at guard.
But for the time being at least, Cade Mays's injury is a significant loss.
Real quick about the game this week, you know, Dan Campbell said the Lions probably are not gonna play many starters, at least some of their front line guys.
He's targeting, if they play at all, guys like Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs.
If they play at all, it'll be week two of the preseason against the Washington Commanders.
You know, look, I, I think the Lions can probably go without playing some of those guys.
I wouldn't risk it myself.
I know Dan had said this spring that he might wanna get a look at some of those guys in preseason games considering there are no joint practices, but the Lions have had five good days of work in pads so far this summer.
They had four straight last week, and those have been good evaluation tools to see what players may be ready for a bigger role and which players maybe aren't ready for the role that we saw when, before pads came on.
We'll find out a little bit more in the game.
Couple players I'd be looking to, to keep an eye on.
Ahmed Hassan, he's had a really good camp, defensive end.
He looks like he's poised for making the team and, you know, maybe having a little bit of a backup role at the big end position this year.
Nick Whiteside is a guy at the cornerback position I would keep my eye on, too.
Obviously, he's had a pretty good camp.
I've written about him a number of times.
But the reality is, the Lions have two big questions on this team: offensive line, how it gels, and especially with Cade Mays out, and the secondary, where they still need some help.
If Nick Whiteside can be a really good number three cornerback, ultimately I think it's DJ Read and Rocky in that start, that would be a great lift for a defense that needs it.
That'll do it for me.
I'm Dave Birkett, freak.com.
