The Detroit Lions entered training camp with a big question at center. They may already have their answer just a week into practices.
Going into the Detroit Lions training camp, the biggest question surrounded their offensive line. With the retirement of Frank Ragnow and loss of Kevin Zeitler to free agency, the Lions had some serious issues to work out at some of their most important positions.
But just a week into training camp, we may already have some clarity. After initially starting at right guard, veteran Graham Glasgow has shifted over to first-team center, and has held that position for the past five practices. While the Lions have not outright said it yet, it certainly sounds like they’re most comfortable with Glasgow holding that spot.
“We just finished two days with Graham back at center in pads, and it’s looked pretty good. It’s looked pretty dang good,” Campbell said. “I think everyday that it looks pretty dang good, it gets a little clearer.”
Lions offensive coordinator John Morton agrees. After seeing a few days of Glasgow at center, Morton said that position feels like a better fit for the 10-year veteran, who has logged plenty of snaps at both center and guard.
“I think that’s more natural for him,” Morton said. “Because that center and quarterback, that needs to be right. The quarterback has got to feel right right there. I do like the way it’s going right now. It’s still early, the more we do it, the better we’re going to get.”
Even Glasgow himself seems to like being at center better. No matter where he’s playing, Glasgow is going to have a big part in the protection calls due to both his experience and the inexperience of the offensive linemen immediately around him. And Glasgow believes that if he’s going to be part of the protection plan, he may as well do it from the center of the line.
“I think that’s something that I’m pretty good at, so I like to do it,” Glasgow said. “If it came to me having to play center and make the calls or me be a guard and then think about the calls anyways just to make sure that the calls were right, I’d probably rather just play center.”
It was rookie Tate Ratledge who initially started camp at center, a position he did not play in college. While the Lions have been encouraged by what they’ve seen with Ratledge—particularly his ability to absorb information—they also know that this early in his career, he may be best at right guard, where he logged almost every college snap at in Georgia. Early on, Campbell admitted they put a lot on his plate when at center.
“Look, we’re putting a lot on him. He’s drinking out of a fire hose right now,” Campbell said after the first two practices. “But there are things that we saw with him in college at Georgia that we felt like, ‘You know what? We think this guy can play center.’ We knew it was going to take some time. When that’s something you haven’t done in games, it’s going to take a minute.”
Campbell has not ruled out eventually moving Ratledge back to center at some point—and said they “could” give him some center reps this preseason—but with the rookie not expected to play in Thursday’s preseason opener, it will have been over a week since he’s logged a rep there.