The Detroit Lions will have four preseason games. Should any starters make an appearance in those games?
It’s still over a month until the Detroit Lions will kick off the NFL preseason against the Los Angeles Chargers for the 2025 Hall of Fame Game, but it’s never too early to speculate about it.
While the Lions are retaining a large majority of their players from last year, there are a few significant new pieces in Detroit. They’ve got new coordinators on both sides of the ball. They may have a new starter at all three interior offensive line positions. Defensively, there will be some shakeups on the defensive line, along with a brand-new starter at CB1.
And given that the Lions have an extra preseason game now, it may make some sense to give some starters—who would otherwise only get “game” reps during the team’s three scheduled joint practices—a series or two this preseason.
So today’s Question of the Day is:
Should any Lions starter play in the preseason this year?
My answer: Nah.
While I understand it may be nice for offensive coordinator John Morton and Jared Goff to get in a play-calling rhythm, they can get a lot of that work done in training camp. Defensively, the changes are so minor that there’s very little for the veterans to accomplish during the preseason.
The only starters I may consider playing in the preseason are the offensive line. If Tate Ratledge is the team’s starting center, it may make sense for the rookie to get some real playing time before the regular season rolls around. Plus, he’ll need to build some chemistry with whoever is playing alongside him. Then again, with both the offense and defense playing with vanilla call-sheets, it likely wouldn’t prepare Ratledge for the complex pressure packages he’ll see in the regular season.
Ultimately, the preseason will be good for the team’s long list of developmental players to grow. Guys like Hendon Hooker, Isaac TeSlaa, Giovanni Manu, Colby Sorsdal, Brodric Martin, Ahmed Hassanein, and several other young players will put together some valuable reps that could eventually help them grow into Lions contributors.
But for the starters, there is little to gain and a heck of a lot to lose. Keep them sidelined.
What do you think? Are there are Lions starters you’d like to get a little playing time before the regular season? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know.