Giovanni Manu: The Lions great unknown OL variable entering his second season

USA Today

05-05-2025

Giovanni Manu: The Lions great unknown OL variable entering his second season Manu is the great unknown variable for the Lions offensive line, and his progress will shape how the unit looks
For the Detroit Lions, sorting out the depth chart at a lot of positions is pretty straightforward after the 2025 NFL Draft. And then there's the offensive line...
Okay, three-fifths of the line is set in stone with Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Decker, All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell and All-Pro center Frank Ragnow. The other two-fifths of the starting offensive line and all the reserve positions inside and out are up for grabs.
Adding two draft picks in Tate Ratledge and Miles Frazier to a group that also includes Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, Dan Skipper, Kayode Awosika, Colby Sorsdal, Netane Muti, Jamarco Jones, Michael Niese and Kingsley Eguakun sets up quite a competition for the remaining 5-7 roster spots, which includes the starting guards, interior reserves and swing tackle(s). But there is another wild card prominently yet somewhat anonymously in the mix.
Giovanni Manu.
It's hard to know what to make of Manu after his first season in America. Detroit traded its 2025 third-round pick to select the giant Tongan, by way of the Canadian USports college football, to draft Manu in the 2024 NFL Draft. A left tackle at British Columbia, the Lions quickly installed Manu as a depth tackle. He spent nearly the entire 2024 training camp and preseason learning as the third-team tackle on both sides, behind Sewell, Decker, and (among others) Skipper. While occasionally promising, it often wasn't pretty to watch.
Here's what I noted as Manu and the Lions headed to their preseason opener last summer against the Giants, after watching every single practice rep he had to that point,
The fourth-round rookie was drafted as a developmental project with amazing athletic potential. He's one of the most physically impressive players in camp, with sculpted tree trunks for legs and twitchy movement skills. However, it's been striking just how far away from being ready to play Manu truly is at this point. His limited experience at the Canadian college level, which is roughly akin to D-III ball, is readily evident. There have been reps in every single practice session that make you wonder if Manu has ever played football before. Jake Burton proved far more capable than Manu in all phases of blocking in his very first (and thus far only) practice in Detroit.
Manu showed a little progress as the preseason played out. Against the Chiefs in the second preseason game, he handled his business at left tackle pretty well versus the bottom end of Kansas City's defensive roster. In the preseason finale against Pittsburgh, Manu played the entire game at left tackle and still looked very much more like a UFL player than an NFL player.
That was the last time anyone outside of the Lions saw Manu play in pads. Media access at practices is limited to warmups and individual drills. Manu was a game-day inactive the entire season, simply occupying space on the 53-man roster while working with coaches and teammates on improving his novice football level. There have been a few public whispers of Manu looking better, but they're from the same Lions folks who kept selling that Sorsdal and DT Brodric Martin were looking better in practices, too.
Manu could very well win the No. 3 tackle job this summer. The Lions regime has also publicly hinted that Manu might bounce inside to guard, though that was before drafting Ratledge in the second round and Frazier in the fifth — trading up for each.
There is zero doubt Manu is going to make the 53-man roster once again. He was drafted with everyone knowing he was a developmental project that wasn't close to ready. How much closer Manu is to being ready to contribute is one of the great unknowns as the Lions approach more offseason workouts and then training camp and preseason. It would be outstanding if No. 59 shows enough to earn (on football merit and not draft status) either the swing tackle role or can push Awosika, Sorsdal, Jones and others off the roster.
The physical potential is absolutely there. By all accounts, both public and private, so is Manu's work ethic and drive to make it. Manu is the ultimate unknown variable for a Lions team that doesn't have many roster questions left entering the 2025 season.