Detroit Lions training camp outlook: Competition for the reserve offensive tackle spots

USA Today

5 days ago

For the fifth straight season, the Detroit Lions will open training camp with no questions about their starting offensive tackles. Taylor Decker is heading into his 11th season as the starting left tackle, while Penei Sewell is embarking upon year No. 5 on the right side. Sewell is an All-Pro and one of the brightest young OL talents in the league, still not even 25 years old. Decker remains reliably above-average in both the run and pass game.
Together, the Lions have one of the very best starting tandems in the NFL. After that, there are some questions at offensive tackle. This year's training camp and preseason will help answer who fits where on the depth chart and who belongs on the 53-man roster, the Lions practice squad, or another NFL team.
Dan Skipper
Dan Skipper is back as the prodigal Lions reserve. Skipper is a fan favorite, a valuable locker room presence and a very effective 6th lineman in jumbo formations. Because Detroit utilizes the six-lineman look more than any other team, Skipper's ability there is no token fluff; the Lions ask him to be ready at any time.
As far as filling in for Decker or Sewell, that's where Skipper scrapes his ceiling. The 6-foot-9 vet is capable in small doses, better in the run game than pass protection. Anything beyond a couple of drives in any game is asking a little too much from Skipper. It seems extremely unlikely the Lions would dump Skipper, especially since he's coming off a career-high 108 special teams snaps in 2024. The question with Skipper is, OT3 or OT4 on Sundays?
Giovanni Manu
To circle back up to the Skipper section, the Lions are not-so-quietly rooting for Manu to prove he can be OT3 and active on gamedays in his second season, pushing Skipper into the 6th OL and OT4 duties. Manu wasn't anywhere close to pushing for that role as a fourth-round rookie and football novice from the Canadian college game (U Sports).
Manu will be one of the most scrutinized players throughout the summer. The rampant hope, both from the Lions themselves as well as fans, is that Manu has grown his game and developed his football acumen enough to justify a roster spot aside from the draft capital (Detroit traded a 2025 third-rounder for Manu in the 2024 NFL Draft) sunken cost.
The athleticism with Manu is obvious. Humans his size (6-foot-8, 350 pounds) aren't supposed to move so quickly, so fluidly. The football skills are where Manu needed considerable work. A native of Tonga, Manu went to Canada for college as a basketball player. Even the rudimentary basics of blocking were challenges for the rookie. To his credit, he never lost his eagerness or got too down on himself while spending a de facto redshirt season as a fixture on the inactive player list on gamedays.
Offensive line coach Hank Fraley will see how much Manu has progressed in the technical aspects very soon. There isn't a better teacher of an O-line coach in the league than Fraley, and getting Manu to emerge as a viable NFL blocker in 2025 would be one of Fraley's greatest accomplishments.
Jamarco Jones
Now entering his second season in Detroit, Jones probably deserves more attention than he gets. A seven-year vet, Jones played three seasons in Seattle as a part-time starter. In fact, Jones has started at least one NFL game at every OL spot except center.
"Starting" and "worthy of starting" are not necessarily equivalent terms, as Seahawks fans are apt to say about Jones from his time there. Jones has decent strength but struggles with foot frequency and length at tackle, going back to his college days at Ohio State. The 6-foot-4, 295-pounder isn't unathletic, but relative to Manu or either starter, there are more limitations to the movement and pulling with Jones in the game.
Jones is certainly in the mix to claim a spot, be it on the 53-man roster as a versatile reserve or as a trusted member of the practice squad who is ready on a moment's notice--the role he played in 2024 in Detroit.
Kayode Awosika
See that last sentence above, in the Jones section? Swap in Awosika's name and the story remains the same, albeit in a different stylistic package. Awosika is entering his fourth training camp with the Lions, and he's made the team every year in some capacity.
The burly Awosika lacks length to play outside full-time, even though that's what he played in college and for the Eagles before joining the Lions. He's played guard quite a bit in Detroit, both as a reserve and a fill-in starter. The reality for Awosika is that he's much more apt to win a position battle inside than at tackle, but his OT experience can't be summarily dismissed as the Lions create the depth across the line.
Mason Miller
This year's undrafted rookie free agent competitor, Miller played right tackle at North Dakota State opposite Seahawks first-rounder Grey Zabel. Just as Zabel is moving inside in Seattle, Miller is almost certainly destined to kick inside to guard if he has any chance to stick in Detroit. His sluggish footwork was readily evident during spring practices. Miller worked out at all five positions in collegiate postseason all-star games, and a year developing into one particular spot on Detroit's practice squad is his most likely Lions outcome as a rookie.
Colby Sorsdal
Sorsdal is looking for a position to stick at in his third season on the Lions. All indications from the spring sessions are that Sorsdal will be transitioning to center after failing to impress enough at guard or tackle, though it's premature to rule out another shot as a reserve tackle.