Lions Midweek Mailbag: Guard Rotation? + 2026 Expectations

0:00Welcome to the Midweek Mailbag, your Detroit Lions midweek podcast where we answer your Detroit Lions questions live here on YouTube live on Twitch and of course available on any podcasting platform you may prefer is week one it is officially midweek one mailbag podcast we're going to be talking about actual football that will eventually happen as soon as tonight reports say but the Detroit Lions play on Sunday it's Lions Saints we're gonna talk about that we're gonna talk about some season expectations you know week one is always like a preview of the game but also a preview of the season and that's going to be reflected in our questions that we are answering today my name is Jeremy

1:00Rasmian you can find me over at Detroit online on whatever social media you want I'm probably not on most of them but hey you can try with me it's always is the season general managing editor the machine at airslide on Twitter it's airslide aircoat even funny hey buddy um yeah it's uh it's exciting that football is back for sure um I I'm uh it's I don't think I'm quite in the rhythm of it yet right like it still feels a little surreal right yeah it's gonna take this while especially because we're like okay we got week one down we're ready and then it's like oh wait no short week week two right right right uh but it I mean it's starting off a little bit weird too because we're recording this on a Wednesday in season this is going to be a live Tuesday podcast up on the podcast feed uh on Wednesdays just because that's typically the lions uh day off I'll I'll be honest I'm not sure we're gonna get one done next week with with the short week

2:02guessing probably not uh but just to set expectations for the season we will record these lives usually Tuesday morning or afternoon that you can catch us live on YouTube and twitch or you can catch us on the podcast feed uh starting Wednesday morning but again because they pushed everything down a day recording this Wednesday let's get on to it because go ahead you have some no I was gonna say I was gonna say I feel like they do this uh they've done this the last couple of years where they start out with a with a quirky schedule and they kind of rotate some days on us on the first week um and then with next week uh you know I think we we've we've ended up pushing the the mail back till after the game so this may be the only uh midweek show uh until we get you know uh a two and a record coming out of that that Thursday game. Oh calling this shot already I like it uh well let's let's start with I think what has been the most visceral news uh drop this weekend and that came from Dan Campbell mentioning that the left guard position

3:07is still very much a competition uh between Ben Barch and Christian Hageni they're gonna split reps this week in practice and even said hey if one of those guys doesn't become the distinct start of starter over the other in practice this week might rotate them in game and that set off a lot of alarm bells so the first five questions are on the offensive line or the guard rotation and let's just start uh with a very uh general question here from Brennan uh bpm at underscore atc on twitter says thoughts on the alleged guard rotation do you really think they will rotate gardens in game or is this a way to motivate if they do how do you think this will affect the offensive line chemistry both short and long term do they rotate within a drive by situation or by half i like the uh the phrasing the alleged phrasing like that yeah that's very appropriate um um yeah so if they do go to this rotation my guess is it would be each series like every other

4:07series or every team series or something like that right um it would be very surprising to see them do it situationally um the general chemistry is going to be impacted but i don't think i like i i believe pene will be fine i think juice juice at center is going is going to have a harder time uh you know gaining comfort uh do i think they'll do it or is this a motivational tool i'm i'm leaning the ladder i think it is a somebody's going to step up and if you don't if you guys don't separate then we'll play it both as a motivational tool uh yeah it would be surprising to see him go into a rotation but i guess it's not unheard of if you're not comfortable or if you're not seeing the consistency that that you want to see so it's definitely out of the box and not

5:09an encouraging sign or not something that you want to hear or see so i'm i guess maybe i'm just gonna put my head in the sand and say yeah no it'll be one guy and that's it yeah listen i i think i think dan Campbell does not want to use a guard rotation yeah i mean he basically said as much on the radio this morning one say morning in this you know weekly 971 uh spot where he said listen i'm like everyone else i don't want it like i don't like this i don't like not having a starting guard i don't like having to potentially use both but if that's what it comes down to i will do that and i i don't think he's i don't think he's fiving i don't think he's bluffing i think i think he would if he if he truly hasn't found a starter but this isn't something that's going to linger right this is this is just another like evaluation test of course and and of course like he doesn't want the evaluation to bleed into the regular season because the regular season isn't about

6:12evaluation it's about plane it's about putting up wins um but unfortunately with the the way the injuries worked out you know jukebox was supposed to be part of this competition too at left guard as as dan was kind of quick to remind us uh this week but that obviously changed when kade maze went down things didn't get off to a great start when um you know barch wasn't starting at the beginning christian mojave missed a couple days too right at the beginning camp and so they didn't have the opportunity to really have that competition play out and so this is this is how they're going to do it and i if i had to guess i think he's going to make a pick on on sunday and and roll with it but i'm not i'm not discounting the fact that they might go serious by serious they might go half by half quarter by quarter whatever um but i'm with everyone out like it's not good it's not great it's not ideal but if that's what dan thinks is best to find out who is going to be at that that that the best of that position then then so be it i don't expect it to less long

7:17and if i'm being completely honest Eric like the sense i'm getting is it feels and then you're not gonna like this but it feels like they're like bend barch please win this job like please just get out there and and get enough rep so that we can trust you because feels like they've really really been pushing in that direction for a while and barch just hasn't been able to stay on the field well i don't want to get too far ahead of the other questions before i respond uh sure so you know what i mean because i feel like yeah i feel like if we we could have this conversation and just go back and forth and we'd probably answer everybody's questions but like no let let's let's let's go to the next one and then i'll i'm sure if we don't over everything we want by the end sure we can then just open forum it yeah uh dan p with the next question whatever pride to try to express that i said i'm a little surprised at dan is seriously considering the left guard rotation this sunday was christian that bad and camp i don't know it feels like we've gotten to a certain point it's just being demoralizing for a player curious

8:18about your thoughts am i overreacting his mahogany just not been putting in the best work or is this a smoke screen week one would be the best time to try it out i guess but it's giving me mat p matty p flashbacks and i don't like that cheers and still thank krakie that it's week one um so one i don't think he was that bad in camp i do think that he started out on the wrong foot by not uh being ready to go um didn't appear to have a injury that was talked about and he was not starting so we know there was one guy who failed the physical we don't know who it was and it could have been him uh if it was and he didn't show up in shape which is a major ask from this organization show up and be in shape beyond time be in shape that's what they want right and so if he shows up and and he's not in shape that's you're starting off on the wrong foot right off the bat look at manu you know we saw manu not disclosing injury and then a egg

9:21aggravated and he basically was just cast off like like they're they look they sounded like they were just done with him and this organization is big on accountability and so if he was the one and he starts off on on the wrong foot then he certainly has an uphill battle to climb i am with you that i think they really are like they they like barge a lot they like his consistency they like his veteran uh you know skill set right the issue with barge has been over the last five years the same thing that was happening over camp he's never available right and so i get that you're looking for someone that you want to be consistent because mahogany's got what 12 starts under his belt or something like that right like he's still learning yep he's uh he's a day three pick six round pick he's got 12 starts and he's not going to be consistent

10:25as the as the seven or eight year veteran right like that's just typically how it works so it does feel like they want barge to win but barge can't get out of his own way like he's had three different injuries in camp three like even if he wins this job and he starts game one who knows who's to say he even finishes the game right and then it could be mahogany's uh um you know a job again and i do think i agree with the end in this aspect that what kind of confidence are you are you are you are you hurting his confidence by by saying look we like this guy better you're just not good enough oh but now we need you right like how how could have a return are you going to get if if you're consistently like saying this guy's not good now maybe it's maybe it's good motivation and maybe it's um you know Dan's always open and honest and that's maybe what it is

11:25maybe he's just not good enough right now but you certainly have a uh you know you certainly have a potential volatile situation here if you go with a guy and then that guy gets injured yeah it's hard because i don't i don't view this as necessarily toying with mahogany this this has been the message from the beginning right like we want to left guard competition and it just never got off the ground because of all they aforementioned barge injuries um it's interesting because i went back and i watched christian mahogany's press conference uh press media session i should call it uh when he returned and you know he talked about like how he actually he loves the competition of course this is what he's gonna always say anyways right like you know i love competition pressure creates diamonds all all kind of like the the platitudes that the things you would normally hear from a player talking to the media um

12:28and and listen like he's been open and honest about last year too right like wasn't happy with how last year went but you know you even injurious side talked about his past protection not being as good um and so i i do wonder if you know you always never know what's going on inside a player's mind and and you certainly something like this could certainly hurt mahogany's confidence but one thing we know about dan Campbell and pretty much this entire coaching stuff is that they're kind of really good at motivating players in general and moreover they are very into a lot individualized with their approaches so if this is a motivation technique or even if it's not i think they know whether mahogany can handle it or not can handle the pressure can handle the continuous back and forth can can can can handle the hints some over some not so much that it seems like they favor barch in this competition and so i'm not i'm not as worried about mahogany's

13:31confidence or his attitude or anything like that but when it comes to like chemistry and stuff like yeah all this all that stuff matters all that is is being negatively impacted but if at the end of it you get the guy that's better for the job i'm not i'm not going to complain about your process um can i mention something real fast because you brought up you brought up like player pressers and interviews and stuff like that sure have all the barch hype has come from the coaches yep i don't know if i've ever heard a player that is talk about like you know barch being like a serious like contender and when i talk to the other offensive lineman they always talked about christian as if he was the starter like it's it's it's it's strange to me that there seems to be like it's almost i don't want to say disconnect but they're like the players

14:36are talking about mahogany as if he's the guy yet the coaches are just they just keep saying barches in it barches in it and like i wonder how much like if they if they just really favor him that much more i wonder if it's just barches never around and that's why the players aren't talking about him because he's not on the field yeah i'm probably a sum of it but it's but it's it's certainly curious to me like how there seems to be different perspectives depending on who you talk to and in the coaches certainly are keeping barches name in the conversation but i haven't heard anything from the players when it comes to barch which is a bit strange to me well there's two things there one is that like said he didn't get a lot of practice out of the field that the players probably don't know what he's been like because they haven't rep next to him a bunch i think the other part is how many people were asking about ben barch when he wasn't out there

15:38nobody well and i think there was kind of an assumption that that mahogany was going to be the starter for the longest time until again the the conversation the tone seems to have changed about this left guard position i don't know about midway through camp when when barch was finally starting to get on the field i don't it's hard to say it's it's certainly like i don't know i guess to like it's just it's it's not even like when players are asked about mahogany he's just brought up more organically again maybe it could be just that he's there you know but again it's it's a weird it just adds layers to what is already seems like a weird situation to me well let's talk about the players themselves and what they offer Jason Krolek asks what does barch do well and how would he help improve the o-line over mahogany well there's like i said a veteran consistency to his game he's

16:40he's an athlete and he's a little he's going to be more of a fluid mover uh as opposed to mahogany who is still athletic uh but he's more power based yeah uh he can get out in move he can get out in pull uh they can both they can both do that which is why they're in in the you know challenging for the job but it's barches more athlete bar and mahogany is more power and i think it's a matter of you know barches been doing it for like i said 70 years mahogany is in year three and he lost half it you know he he lost a good portion of time last year with a broken leg and and lost a good portion of his rookie year and so he's still he's got maybe a year's worth of actual plain experience under his belt maybe less and so there's going to be inconsistencies with that especially with the guy that you know is is developing yeah the only other thing i really have to add is i mean

17:43men barges are tall during a water he's six six um former tackle like he has not that the versatility matters and that the lines are even considering moving him to tackle but obviously i think some of that translates a little bit into pass pro i think that's where i would have been barch like as as a little bit above christian mahogany it was something that mahogany struggled with and openly admitted that he struggled with last year barches been a little bit more consistent about that in his career in terms of pass pro um but i think it's more what you said versus like finesse versus power and obviously like the lines are going to want a little bit of both and i think the reason why you were so strident that that mahogany was going to win that job is that we know that the run game has been an emphasis this offseason um and and that is something where i think mahogany probably has a slaydege over barch but to me maybe this is this is more about consistency this is more about balance and i think maybe that's what barch gets you over mahogany

18:47if you look at their interior offensive line boss players histories um ratlitz mahogany maize frasier all finished their college careers at rite guard scruggs and mcgolf and mcgolflin finished their careers at center and the other of the other ones that were in camp barch nysorstal mason miller priestly all college tackles yeah it's so like it's it's just they have a style of guy that that they like and they like and they're willing to give these you know small school tackles you know opportunities to convert it's it's an interesting way that they that they've approached it's just a side note there jasra archer with the next question on this says which of the two between barch and mahogany offered the most upside also is it worth risking offensive line cohesion by starting the off injured barch you got to touch on that last one like the you're concerned about that right

19:51yeah yeah certainly um he hasn't started more than three games in any season in the last five years uh barch so like i don't know i like we i don't know how you look past that like and i know injuries are fluky and um you know i hate putting injury prone labels on players i think that's often unfair um at the same time there's just some guys that just just their bodies can't handle the stress of the NFL right um mark a stab in port right like we saw this for the last two years with mark a stab in port and maybe i'm just you know burned by that that i'm looking at barch and i'm saying man what their entry histories are so similar like what what where's the confidence that he's going to be able to play more than three games and so i that's my biggest concern is if you're

20:56you know dan Campbell said in week one of training camp well i'd like to have our starting five in place by the end of the week right to build cohe to build cohesion now it's five weeks six weeks later and we're still not settled like then you certainly should be concerned about cohesion on that offensive line so yeah i i'm not settled by that look at the if they stick with mahogany who's been the starting left guard for the last month i'm less worried about cohesion but if you start switching barch and then he gets injured and he's back out like then i am then yeah then that that's certainly a concern for me so you know as far as the first part of his question upside i think at this point barch is what he is when you're a seven year veteran you're pretty much you've hit your ceiling uh whereas i don't think mahogany has so i would say mahogany has more upside but the real question for game one is who has the higher floor right right and that's and

22:00that's the question that where barches history comes into play if he has a higher floor is that worth you know compromising up the developmental upside of mahogany is that worth compromising offensive line cohesion and obviously the lines think it is worth it or they wouldn't even be considering it yeah i think you laid out nicely all of the reasons why it should be mahogany right and i'm not saying i'm not saying that's the right choice i'm just saying the arguments for mahogany are he's been wrapping there all spring all summer to get that uh to get that chemistry building he's a little bit more reliable in terms of his health he's got more upside um i think all those things are true that doesn't mean it's the right choice because well one the lines are considering this for a reason right they they they they want their best five out there and if they think ben barches is their best five as it stands today then that's the player they're going to to

23:02go with the injury stuff is interesting like if you spend all this time having christian mahogany as your your your starter in in camp and and yes that's mostly due to injury but then you go you you change up the last minute you go barch and and barch plays the way he has the last five years which is decent for two or three or four games and then gone did you just waste that time did you get what was worth it out of their those four games only to have to go back to mahogany did you lose an opportunity to to continue to build mahogany's game build that chemistry with the offensive line or did you get enough on a mahogany and be like well you know if if that scenario plays out the barch gives us the best play he can for four games and then mahogany slides in maybe that's fine with them maybe they're like well that's fine like we like mahogany we just don't like him as much as barch so we had barch for four games then mahogany came in and took over it's not a nightmare scenario

24:03but again it's not great for for a team like you said that was so hell bent on getting their offensive line set early in the season to be in this place now and then potentially facing down the you know the very real possibility of selecting barch and then having to deal with replacing him via injury again is not great that great for you know this teams number one goal this off season fixing the offensive line but it's it's where we're at and I don't here's the thing it's like I don't know if I would have treated this any differently if I were the lions because they brought in the guy that they wanted to have a serious competition with mahogany maybe they chose the wrong guy if you want to argue that you certainly can it's it's certainly an easier argument to make now that he had injury concerns coming in and those have carried over obviously but I don't know I want them to get the guard position right more so than I want them to stick with what was there and so I'm trying to keep an open mind about this even though

25:06it doesn't look great the opics certainly aren't great yeah that's not gonna get cleaner either because when maize returns and he now you have to start rebuilding energy with or or you know communication cohesion with with maize and then if you do want to keep shrugs and you want to shift him to guard I think that's a bad idea as well because he played guard the first week of camp and he got pushed around like he he didn't look like when you've seen barch on the field he's at least look like a guard in this scheme yeah mahogany has looked like a guard for this scheme I didn't think juice looked good at guard I think you look fine et cetera I think he'll be fine et cetera but he that he lacks the anchor lacks the the power that I think is required to play guard and I worry that that's gonna you know start having you know long-term riffs as well right and then

26:11we're talking about like geez you know halfway through the season before you you settle like on something like that's that's not ideal that's not a no you need to you need to get but this is the NFL right like if you if you start your starting five for all 17 games you are streaming well you never will but but most of those combinations and stuff are usually like you know you got Andrew here in there and you're you're making those adjustments but like not having not having comfort in who's the starter it doesn't suffice me no and and I want to also be clear just to provide some perspective the 49ers and I believe the chargers are both going through potential guard rotations in week one they're going through similar like we don't we don't know who the starter is yet and unfortunately that's part of life in the NFL right I mean everyone every team is going through something like that at some position right I think there are very few teams

27:13that have all 22 starting positions all of them are healthy all of them are like we're set on this guy for the rest of the season it just sucks that the thing that the Lions tried to put the most input in investments in thought process in the offensive line is where it's at right now speaking of which Jason Mouler asks after seeing how golf got so rattled when he got pressured from the interior last year I'm worried about the interior offensive line for all off season investment guards are the same scruggs is no better than Glasgow and Maze is a big question mark why didn't they do more well man is this Dave is this Dave Berkets burner I'm just kidding no um look you went out and got the best center available to you in free agency because the other guy said all gotten traded for or signed up ahead of time there wasn't any really good centers in

28:18the draft and so you're gonna get a minute bomb right you couldn't afford them um and so they didn't have a whole lot of options Maze was their best option they went out they paid them um they also gave him a contract that if he doesn't work out they're not married to it you know as well so like I think they did the best with what they could at center um they got Maze they got scruggs as a backup which they're already needing like that's a that's a big edition as big of an edition as I think they could reasonably have made at center they're agreed as far as guard I mean I get that you're saying they're the same as last year because the two starters are both in starting positions currently from last year uh but barge is there and that's he just took up the last first half hour of the show uh so like we can't we can't overlook

29:21him either uh I just you know again you're you're you're getting a veteran with upside on a cheap contract this is a standard kind of like Holmes thing we've talked about this before how all GMs have tendencies and one of Brad's tendencies is he gets a guy who has an injury history so he comes at a discount that has upside to start but can he stay and if he stays healthy it'll be a good investment it just hasn't paid off really for him yet um it's something he's tried multiple times and the only time it's really paid off that he's gone after a high high and put a high investment into an injury player was JMO um you know who turned out to be exactly what they wanted him to be after a couple years of getting you know into the NFL so but like Deb and Port didn't work out the um it's just it's he's he gets these guys that are he he's trying to like it's like it's like it's just

30:29a crapshoot it's a gamble right and I understand it I understand it when you have limited resources that's yeah you make the best with what you what you can do and it's maybe and it's worth the gamble a lot of times and then sometimes it's not like Brad Port like it just eventually yes right a manu mostly another yeah yeah great it's just that's where they're at financially as an institution and and I don't want to turn this into an argument of you know going all in like yes if the lines wanted to invest in a top-tier guard this offseason they could have done it but we're working within the parameters of reality here and the reality is that Brad Holmes is not going to mortgage the future for the present he's not going to so if if you accept that as the reality that we're living in then the lines don't have a bunch of ability to go out there and get the top guards instead he has to get guys with upsides he's one thing that I've noticed Dan Campbell's really talked about this week in particular is role players is guys like Ben Barch is guys like Tom

31:32Kennedy guys like Roger McCreary you know these these guys that they've added that Loki starters like could potentially be starters in a pinch Rocky Sin was that guy last year a font a mad guy this year and it's these these gambles on guys that are either old they're injured they've been bypassed by younger players on other teams those are the kind of investments that this team is willing to make right now and just that and I understand not everyone's going to agree with it and I'm not saying they're doing it the right way but you have to understand that they are going to be working with limited resources for the foreseeable future and those are the kind of free agents are going to add and so it's going to look like Ben Barch's it's going to look like Seth McLaughlin's and juice grugs you know guys that that are investments and and have high upside but they're not going to be these splashy things that you're looking for they're going to make one splash per off season this year they they made it at center right like that that was their that

32:32was their investment and so if you're complaining about their investments on the interior offense of line I don't really know what else you could else you could reasonably expect because maybe maybe you wanted one in the draft but are you taking away the lines right tackle are you taking away Derek Moore like which which one of those guys would you rather have as a guard like they could have gone tackle guard in the draft but how good you feel about that defensive line without Derek Moore I don't know just just to nail a point home that like that you that you mentioned is that I don't think people realize how up against the cap they are right now right right before free the start of the new year they were three million over the cap and they had to get kept compliant and they have somehow we just haven't figured out exactly how like they cut a they cut a couple of guys right

33:35to maybe get them under and now they're just making moves but they're they're dancing that that fine line of what the calorie cap is and that's only they're only going to be able to do that for so long before they're going to have to do some sort of restructure and then free up some money so that they can you know go through the season because they're going to need another 10 million dollars at least just to get to the season so the strategy of trying not to invest too much of this year's you know salary cap needs and push too much into the future was the strategy that they chose to take right and because of that and that's totally understandable like that makes it makes sense for what you're trying to do you're trying to not push much into the is you want to push as little into the future as you can right and so but that strategy has left them in a spot where

34:36they're going to have to make some tough decisions and they aren't the team that's going to you know go after a linder bomb in free agency because they have more all pros and pro-pollars and top 10 players and ESPNs pull like than any team in the NFL and that's when you have that level of guy those that level of multiple guys on the roster you have to be it get creative at other spots and we're seeing that kind of play out yeah I mean we've talked about it a couple times but there was always expected to be some sort of revolution at offensive line in Detroit there was always going to be this moment where they had to move to a new generation of players the lines got a little bit unlucky unlucky because it happened all at once right it happened with Taylor Decker happened with Frank Ragnar you moved on from some of your older guys Graham like it all just happened in a matter of basically whatever like 13 14 months to expect them to come

35:41out of that in a years time and have everything figured out is relatively unrealistic especially for a team that didn't have all the offseason resources that they had the truth is this team and and we see it in a lot of other positions like they are very much in the phase now where some of the old guard is being replaced by younger players being like Alex and Zaloni to Jack Campbell is the perfect example I know they didn't play exactly the same position but you know leader of your your linebacking core the guy that you're spending a lot of resources on you move on from Zaloni because you can't pay two of them now it's Jack Campbell's defense now he's a captain they were trying to do the same thing at corner that hasn't worked out for you know failure to draft reasons and they are doing it on the offensive line they they probably hope to have Taylor Decker around for another year and maybe have some sort of transition year for Blake Miller they the center thing is probably the toughest one with that they didn't have a plan in place

36:42but Frank's retirement came past the opportunity to to make any of those moves and they did what they could this offseason they're making tricks moves on at the guard position so I don't know I I feel like yes there are things maybe they could have done better along the way but also they're just kind of a little bit of a victim of circumstances when it comes to how much overhaul that offensive line has needed in the past 14 months and doing everything that they could possibly do in that time given the limited resources to to make it a better unit than it was last year. All right let's take a break I promise we are going to move on from offensive line stuff and talk about more about the team more about the upcoming season a little bit about week one as well will we come back here on the midweek mail back what are you doing

37:51welcome back to the midweek mailbag here on the pride of Detroit podcast feed or Twitter or twitch I should say or YouTube we just had a long break answering more lines questions so if you're listening on the podcast and you're like hey I want more of this head over to our YouTube page or twitch page where there's plenty of extra content in between segments like I'm talking about literally an hour and a half more self-discussion so you're missing quite a bit but let's we also talked about comic books so you might not want any of that stuff sorry so let's talk about alliance here and we have a question from at lines fanca a west good afternoon leaving one open spot on the active roster it's thought provoking what do you think they add safety running back or wider seaver or do they keep it open for when Brian branch returns uh I think they keep it open a week one and then fill it with Tom Kennedy and week two and the reason you might they might take this approach is because if a veteran is on the 53 man

38:52roster four week one their contract becomes fully guaranteed for the remainder of the season and that might not be something that they want to do I thought they might consider uh the same taking that same approach with Joe bachi but they brought him back and if he's on the contract if he's on the week one roster which it sure looks like it's going to be uh then his contract's going to be uh you know it's going to be guaranteed for the remainder of the season which then creates an interesting dynamic with having seven linebackers so yeah you know it's still possible that they decide hey we need to get up an extra practice squad guy um and so we will sign time Kennedy and then we can bring up our two practice squad guys could be an you know injury or or something along the lines but uh right now my guess is if they're healthy as we're kind of anticipating then they may wait a week on on Tom yeah you kind of laid out why expected Joe bachi

39:57to be the I'm sorry time Kennedy to be the one that has already signed to the 53 because with bachi he might not be on the roster all year like once Jimmy Rolder is healthy you could reasonably expect bachi to come off the roster but now he's headed towards getting that fully guaranteed salary um so maybe that means bachi's higher on the depth chart than maybe some of the other guys in that room although that seems unlikely I don't know if there's a guy specifically I could point to that he's he would be ahead of yeah like maybe gosh I don't even know um uh while uh whereas with Tom Kennedy we just had this discussion off air or between segments like I think Tom Kennedy's wide receiver for on the steam I think he is punt return or one I think he is going to be on the 53 man roster the entire year so I don't know why you would play this game with him I think you bring him out of the 53 and you guarantee you sailor anyways because I think he's gonna be here the whole year it doesn't really matter

40:59but I'm with you that like that's how they're gonna use that open roster but I don't think there's an external ad coming here certainly not for week one right like you're not going to externally add someone in the middle of the week and just be like okay well here's cream hunt you're gonna you're gonna go in there and be RB2 for the season like that or for for week one like that's that's not coming corner ad doesn't seem like it's on it's coming you know everyone was talking about christian good dolls like a trade might happen there I don't think anything like that was ever in the works now it is mildly interesting to think about there will be an open roster spot somewhere outside of the your their internal guys right like if they end up signing someone to the 53 now there's a spot on the practice squad and if you want to have a discussion like who who that player is or what position that player is going to be I think that's an interesting conversation to have like where do they need a little bit more depth running back is one of those positions where they do need a little bit more depth they they have jibarri small now back on the practice squad but that's four healthy guys maybe one to fifth or maybe it is a corner or I don't know I haven't

42:03done a deep dive on what that practice squad looks like in terms of giving the team overall depth but I know is there a position that sticks out to you but the lines might add that 16th practice squad spot assuming that they use the 53 man spot on someone from the practice squad I think it could be a returner because I don't know the taking this approach with Tom or at least our presumed approach with Tom here is it almost says we like what he can do but we don't have confidence that he can do it for an extended period of time or we think maybe we can get you know an up we can start actively look for an upgrade or I it's really kind of unclear yeah because I agree with you if it certainly looks like he's going to be on the roster for the season and it was a bit surprising to see him not signed and bashe signed but will they add competition

43:04for the returner spot and so could that be another wide receiver could it be a like you said maybe a running back because you know someone who can do a kick returns and then also give you some depth the fact that they have like three wide receivers on the on the practice squad right now tells me maybe they're going to be looking to pick and choose guys depending on matchups where they may and this week we might need more of a slot guy this week this week we need more field stretcher but the big question mark always comes down to receiver or I'm sorry returner like returner and what what is the plan at punt returner if it's not Tom Kennedy I don't know that they have an answer because all camp it was dorschen Kennedy dorschen Kennedy those were the two guys and dorsches in Buffalo well let me bring in talking grits question here which is are you

44:04surprised that Tom Kennedy looks to be the primary punt returner to start the season do you think there is there still is competition for that spot and with you like they could use competition for that spot but I don't think they have competition at that spot right now I don't think there's anyone realistically that's in that conversation right now that that would like left guard to have this competition continue throughout the season it's something that they could add but I still kind of think the opposite of like I kind of think they're confident in Tom Kennedy yeah he beat Greg dorschen who like they praised they praised about his punt return all season and while I do think some of the reason he beat him was because of the offensive stuff that Tom Kennedy offers whereas dorschen a little bit more limited on offense I think they're just fine with time Kennedy's return is their returner and obviously you need you need a backup plan there in case of injury and I'm not 100 percent clear on what that is right now is it I don't know I'm on your 53s it just you throw

45:06I'm on a rob back there and tell him to fare catch it every time is it Cleald dorschen I'd hate that I hate both those options you know what I mean like right I don't like love it maybe on the practice squad if you if you're talking about like week to week has he ever looked really that good though not really not better than Tom and so like it's I agree with you they there is no clear competition on the roster right now which is why I think that could be a that could be a target all right next question comes from Jeff jade to the air says what's the biggest tell to look for on how the season will go in game one for example the offensive line was rough in game one last year turned out it was a major problem throughout the year geez it's kind of hard to identify it until it happens right sure I don't know if I have a like I don't think I have anything

46:10yeah I'm gonna cheat and say this I'm gonna cheat and say that's you can't okay like like we weak one lies right I I truly believe in that I truly believe that teams get better and so this this is kind of I took this question to like make sure to serve this as a warning and maybe this is just my own anxiety that I want to put on everyone else but like don't get obsessed with how bad it looks in week one because Dan Campbell said it this week right you don't really know who you are as a football team into week four Matt Patricia said something similar which is like September football sucks it's not about who's good in September it's about who identifies their mistakes and improves upon them it's it's dance it's almost identical yeah that's what I was saying and so it like I you're right that last year the signs at the offensive line was not going to work we're there in week one but I would also argue that some like some of the offensive line struggles were different early on it was communication they they kind of fixed that right they didn't have

47:16as many pre snap errors they didn't have as many ma's they just were not a good unit and so you might see something similar this year where it's like yeah the communication is not going to do get there we just spent a whole segment talking about how they've been moving parts where they probably should have been cementing chemistry and so yeah there could be some ma's there could be offensive linemen that are not on the same page and let it a free I run I still expect that to get better and I and not necessarily a sign that things are going to be terrible and that expands to every single position right there they're going to be some early mistakes September football is ugly and so you only know in retrospect you only know in week 18 what signs in week one were signs of problems they weren't going to be able to fix but I don't think there's any possible way you can identify problems in week one and know for sure those are problems that are going to persist through throughout the whole season so what makes this game incredibly hard to predict

48:18so that's my non-answer you're just going to stick with that too yeah because I don't have anything clean right like I just don't I don't I'm not sure which direction to point all right uh we'll move on then Kevin McAllister is it the Kevin McAllister from Home Alone fame who knows uh so seeing that they need to distribute RB2 snaps can you see Petsing using Vocky in a theoretic type of role well in a way um because what was Theo most known for his Texas routes right sure and we've seen Vocky do that in the preseason in in last year we saw some of that and camp this year so I certainly think the things that made Theo really good are things that you can also do with Vocky because of his past catching skills and his past blocking skills and that's the thing

49:19that that when it comes down to it for me I think that that's what gets him on the field right is that his ability to pass block is going to get him opportunities and so um while I think there are components of theoritics game that you can apply to Vocky um Vocky is a much bigger back um he's not as quick or sudden I guess his Theo was but he is being bigger comes with its advantages as well he can be more power based uh when he gets out in the open and he gets he gets uh some momentum behind him he's hard to knock down right uh him and of atheumatics had that had that big uh collision uh on Vocky's touchdown run in the scrimmage that was you know not called the touchdown runner right but yeah like they're not

50:20going to be the same but there's some crossover yeah I think I think the crossover is third now right because one thing that Theo became like kind of notorious for is sure being in there on third downs and being in there for like two minute drills right he's there in obvious passing situations partially because he's such a good receiver partially because there was past protection things that's where the overlap is with Vocky he's a good pass protector he's he's a capable receiver what I think was it was it the giants or the chiefs last year in the preseason when they did a two minute drill with Vocky right caught like six passes in that two minute drill right that's what I was that's what's like very much in my head of of how they could potentially use him and you and you you think like okay well that's not going to be the case in here Detroit with the starters because that skips gives can do all those things you want to give in on your two minute trail but it got me thinking what if that's when you use Gibbs on the outside what if oh certainly

51:21what if you because one of the things that the the Vikings were able to do so well against Detroit is take Gibbs out of the game plan by forcing him to stay in as a pass protector what if you line him up outside and Vocky is the guy that's forced to be back there and serve as your pass protector is as a guy that's identifying blitzes and and being the guy to protect Jared golf that one extra second I mean you you don't even have to take him outside for your premise to still work sure right split backs in the backfield that works too yeah yeah 100 percent it's just I thought the Vikings did that extremely well they they almost took Gibbs out of the game entirely and the line seemingly didn't have an answer and John Morton didn't have an answer fair and I just wonder if like maybe that's that's a part of the game that Vocky even more so than Pacheco can fill that role I mean Pacheco is really good pass blocker too yeah and I mean that's

52:22one of the reasons why he's here but just like the interchangeability of it where Vocky can also go out there and catch pass maybe that's not Pacheco's game 100 percent you're 100 percent agree with you there all right next question we're flying through these one of the backs half Keith B says how effective is it to snipe a free agent player from a team who you are facing in the near future for example Greg Dorch where did he end up going Buffalo Buffalo oh yeah he went to Buffalo lines week two opponent seems like it would be a huge advantage for that team especially if you can get a QB or other play calling type player who was in camp with your opponent and really knows your system but I never seem to see or hear anyone make a big deal about it you see this happen with divisional teams a lot I feel like during the regular season like the Lions will sign a packer you know right before the buy week and then have the then tap into them and the players that

53:23kind of get brought in they talk about the fact that they just unload everything um the issue is and I know that and I think this is why it's not made as big of a deal is these teams know so much about football and they watch the films they know what the team's tendencies they know what the teams are doing they know their tendencies getting that information from a player it's really just a small component of what of things that they kind of already know um and so like in those weeks you'll do things you'll change things like you'll change your articles right but you may be doing that anyway because you've used the same one for like two games right or you know so like there's not a huge advantage because especially like with offense like the way the NFL is nowadays everybody runs a west coast version right like it's in some variation of like west coast but then it's just like which aspects of it do you use how do you

54:29adjust it to your personnel and it's not it's not like there it's a new language it's just uh you know the play call like it's just a new concept on things that are already working in today's modern uh NFL yeah I ultimately the tape doesn't lie right the they they're pro there's pro scouting for a reason and it's not just a scout guys that might be free agents as to you know teams are doing month weeks and months in advance scouting the upcoming opponent they they have play they have scouts go to their games to watch the way they interact on the sideline to maybe I was gonna say steel steel signals like probably happens at the NFL level too it's not illegal um now we'll say in the case of someone like Greg Dorch maybe there's a little bit more of an added advantage because there isn't a lot of tape out on drew petting in the lines like maybe that helps the bills get a little bit of a head start on preparing for the lines sure I just think in like we Dan Campbell has been asked about this and and generally they all time tend to downplay they're like listen

55:34nothing we do is is a secret we're not we're not creating these plays out of thin air everyone is borrowing from history of this game and there's not that much that we do that isn't already out there in some former another and because game plans are so individualized each week because like you said you're changing your audible is you're changing your game sheet every single week it helps but it can't get you to the finish line and it might create some shortcuts so that you spend more time doing something else and yeah it can help incrementally but I think in general everything is so specialized in individualized each week that it's it's just it I don't think it helps in any sort of like meaningful like well the line should change to you know bills by three and a half instead of two and a half because they have great arch but it's also very hard to like like describe what that tangible impact is either I do think players certainly give that information up though they do yes

56:42VJ next question one of our pride to try to trigger subscribers as was Keith by the way so appreciate you both the new shepherd defense is aggressive how is he different from Brian floors is defense do you think that this new scheme will help them better prepare against the Vikings yeah it's very different from the Vikings defense it's you have to think more along the lines of like what Philly was a couple years ago except with more man instead of zone like Philly runs a lot of zone in their secondary lines use a lot of man but the front the way the front operates is similar to Philly from from a couple years back it's also similar to there's some aspects of it that you saw from Seattle from last year as well and some of the games that they play in stuff and so with Flores it's he does things to an extreme and it's really hard to prepare for him because he runs more zero coverage than anybody in the NFL which means you know everybody's

57:50man and there's no safety help but he also runs the most cover six in the NFL which is everyone drops in coverage so like he goes through the extreme in both aspects and and she's not going to do that ships she's gonna he's gonna keep his defense is more standardized I should say except it's been tweaked and elevated this year with some of the personnel that they've added and which allows them to be more aggressive and then the incorporation of some of these concepts from previous successful defensive lines while also keeping to his you know core principles as a defensive coordinator so I don't think it's gonna help much with the Vikings but it's going to it'll certainly help with a lot of the opponents in the NFL I'll push back just a little bit like I agree that they're they're different defenses but the the the core what is at Ryan Flores's defense is unpredictability

58:54with your past rush right it's who's going to be they'll show eight guys at the line of scrimmage you don't know which guys are coming which guys are coming which guys are dropping back into coverage and I think the Lions are trying to play some of that game now it's not gonna look the exact same and like you said the knobs aren't gonna be turned up nearly as much as the Vikings do it they're not gonna show eight again up at the line every single play but they might do it a little bit more than they have before and they are gonna drop some linemen into coverage and they are gonna send some safeties and and corners and nickels and and linebackers a lot and I think part of that was intentional during training camp to stress test the offense specifically to stress test that offensive line to make sure that they're communicating and they're reading pre snap signals and they're and they're making sure that everyone knows the rules if this guy is coming then we do this if this guy's dropping into coverage we do this and so in that sense I think it does prepare them a little bit for the Vikings just to make just to like really stress test on this this free this training camp and I think maybe I'm and kind of fingers crossed maybe some of the offensive

1:00:00line troubles that we saw in training camp were just more so the result of kelvin shepherd throwing a lot at them rather than pay this offensive line is new still getting to know each other yep no problem all right next question let's go to crews says should there be any issues with cornerback play how quickly at all would you expect Dan or Brad to attempt to kind of would attempt any type of fix well I you know if it's like a the corner isn't doing his job and you know if he and he's not executing what their expectations are yeah as with any position I think they won't be shy about giving them the hook you know what I mean and going with it if they have a guy who's playing better so this is a very heavy merit-based

1:01:07team if you are playing better than the person in front of you you're now the one that's in front and so if if they do have struggles at corner you know they're going to want to make sure that they see it know it but I don't think they'll be afraid to make a change if someone isn't living up their expectations regardless of position I think that's true I do wonder though if crews is asking subtly a different question which is will they go out there and make a move oh I don't think so right that's kind of where I'm at like I'm I 100% agree with you like if if let's just say Rockies and is not playing up to snuff would they put Roger McCreary or NS Raikstra in there if they believed in one of those players yes absolutely if they're like our cornerback room is not good we don't like this guy or this guy and we try to back up and that wasn't working will they go

1:02:08out there and like at the trade that deadline make a move for corner maybe but I think this team has made it pretty clear what their priorities are when it comes to spending offseason resources when it comes to the the players that they do have on the roster and the belief they have in the players on the roster and yes they haven't gone out and gotten a Terry on replacement and I don't love the depth in that cornerback room as much as anybody else I do wonder if they're willing to sacrifice anything substantial to improve that room I have my doubts they're obviously not completely close to the idea they went out and and they they got Zadarius Smith a couple years ago but that was in response to an injury that wasn't in response to multiple multiple injuries that wasn't a response to poor play I think they believe in the guys in that room and so I think if one guy isn't playing up to par they're just going to replace him with

1:03:09another guy on the roster and continue a competition there I don't I think it would take a lot for them to go out and make a splash with the corner anywhere probably they kind of they are what they are right for this year this is yep speaking of trading for guy because of health Brian M I'm a private Detroit direct subscriber ass how much of the NFL season hinges on a team staying healthy I'm really excited for the season and I'm starting to feel it's less about XSNOs and more about which teams can avoid key injuries yeah a lot of it it does come down to that if you have a good team and you stay healthy you have a chance to go far and a lot of good teams become mediocre teams because of injuries and so what you won't have what you won't ever have is a mediocre team that stays healthy all sudden become like a contender right like you have to you have to have a baseline of where

1:04:13you are being good to start and then it becomes maintaining that health and you'll see that a lot in the playoffs like the Seahawks were healthy and then you know in previous years it's been these teams that have been healthy and blah blah blah right so health is a certainly a huge advantage but no doubt you've got to start with that baseline first all right so adjusted games lost is my favorite way to measure injuries impact of injuries and it's it's a little complicated but more or less it's talking about the guys who miss games starters are weighted more heavily than backups things like that so the five healthiest teams last year the Patriots the Eagles the Seahawks the Chiefs and the Raiders so in the case of someone like the Raiders you still need to have talent you can be as healthy as you

1:05:13but you still need talent obviously the Chiefs are kind of an interesting name in there too since they didn't make the playoffs they lost the big one they they did yes but they had the healthiest defense of any team in the NFL but they did lose their quarterback which dropped them to 16th on offense the least healthiest teams were the Cardinals the Lions the commanders the dolphins and the 49ers so only the 49ers were able to climb out of that hole the commanders the Lions and the Cardinals were all pretty big disappointments Miami I didn't think had any expectations year before that healthiest teams Baltimore Philadelphia Chicago which was a weird one in there Atlanta Washington again Washington had a good year that year Baltimore had a good year that year Philly won the Super Bowl I don't remember what happened to Atlanta here but whatever least healthiest team San Francisco and again in there the the Raiders and their Panthers

1:06:14Saints dolphins so is there a 100% statistically significant correlation I don't know I haven't done the the R-squared test to quite figure that out but it's certainly it's certainly important it's not the end all be all it will make a great team mediocre it will make a mediocre team terrible but there are there are teams that can withstand it there are teams that have fought against it I would just say if you're in the top five most injured list very rarely should you expect to win a Super Bowl all right next question motor city media asked what's a successful season for the Detroit Lions for each of you regular season record and postseason results um they've got to make the playoffs that's the minimum that's the floor right sure I don't think they have to win their division but I think they will

1:07:19like getting in as a wild card certainly takes some of the shine off winning the division and hosting the game right sure um how far you go I think it's a different story like I think the expectation would be that you also have to win at least one game for it to be successful I know like returning to playoffs will technically be more successful but I think you're gonna have to do a little bit more than that yeah I don't think there's a record no one's gonna care about your record this year is like you have to make the playoffs and you have to go deeper in the playoffs so for me like I don't love looking at things as a binary successful versus unsuccessful but I'll look at it through this binary whether I'm going to be disappointed or not I would be disappointed with

1:08:19anything short of an NFC championship appearance now if they made the divisional round and that included a win in the wild card game do I consider that a failure of a season I don't know maybe maybe not like you you obviously made progress from this year before but the lines have made it that far and it's not satisfying people anymore I think if you get to the NFC championship game with all of the overall you've had to do on the offensive line with with the overchange and offensive coordinator with the building you know dealing with you missing your two starting safeties to start the season I I think that would be a strong season one that I wouldn't feel embarrassed about one that I feel like the lines are continuing to make progress and still in this championship window or whatever you want to call it so I think I think they have to get to the NFC championship game for me to feel like okay this was a good season it's it's gonna be that it's gonna be tough because I feel like there's a lot more

1:09:21really good teams that are in the NFC this year than in the NFC like I can look at the a the NFC and say one two three four there's at least five I mean like you're talking about Seattle the current champs right yep the Rams obviously have done their business um the Eagles are always up in the mix again uh San Francisco yeah they always seem to find their way back in there the Packers always seem to linger around obviously the Lions right I mean that's six teams right there that I expect to make the playoffs in the NFC in the aFC the bills Houston maybe I think Denver is probably up there Ravens and then I think the Ravens but they're they're kind of a craps you they typically make here's the deal though bills new coach right and like I know they're they're like the aFC Super Bowl

1:10:22favorites but with that new coach I don't know how things are gonna are gonna go new in quotations I mean he's been there sure yeah but he's also a first-time head coach sure right not just he's been in the building but it's it's a different animal when you're in in the hot seat there um and so there's I have more questions with the aFC teams than I do with the NFC teams and I think there's a lot of there's a lot of big fish in the NFC pond is what I'm saying so get it's a tougher road what I'm hearing is you're gonna accept mediocrity this season that's fine no I'm just saying it's a tougher road that's all all right let's finish just this uh fun question here from Tyler asks who says uh one of her private trip direct subscribers by the like says in five years how are the lines going to remember the 2026 season in 2021 it was all about restoring toughness in 2022 was a national attention and hope 2023 was a big playoff run 2024 was a great team undone by injuries in 2025 was a huge disappointment and a missed opportunity what's 2026

1:11:26about uh a return to form right I think they're getting back to their basics because they want to return to where they've been and where they've been since 23 and maybe even a second half of 22 if we're being honest and so I think this is a return to basics return to form yeah I was going to say something similar like re-establishing themselves as an NFC perennial contender because if there's anything we just learned from getting together all those power rankings where only two maybe three had them inside the top 10 everyone out yes three inside the top 10 then it's 11 15 15 16 19 thank you pick P. Prisco for continuing to be the chip on the lines is shoulder um yeah like they've fallen out of the conversation right there are new more sexy teams that people are excited about the bears the patriots you know these teams that had good 2025 seasons but it remains to be

1:12:29seen whether they can string success together which again like that's that's one of the toughest things to do in the NFL it's why the lines are under as much scrutiny as they are is because they took one step back and something like okay they're done their their window is closed um there's always an overreaction to one season and I think we're in it right now with the lines I think once the season is done people will remember that this team is immensely talented on both sides ball yes more on offense and defense but they have huge playmakers on both sides of the ball they're starting to get development out of their young players on defense and I think they are going to buy the end of the season be one of the more well-rounded teams in football because I expect this to be a top 10 borderline top five offense I think by the end of the season it could be a top 10 defense too yeah defense looks fun right now all right that's the podcast that's the preview midweek mailback as I said at the top these are mostly going to be recorded on Tuesdays for the rest of the season

1:13:32so long as there's not a weird game time so obviously next week is it's one of those weird times where probably not going to have a midweek mailback before the game maybe after the game maybe not at but you can expect these Tuesdays live on YouTube and Twitch Wednesday mornings and your podcast feed as always we appreciate you following us on all those platforms leaving us reviews comments we read it all we appreciate it all to make sure we're high up on everyone's list so more people get this podcasty goodness delivered to them every day but till next time until week one is over until hopefully one in oh I'm Jeremy that's Eric it's cast be good