Dan Campbell hinted at it Monday when he said, "There's a reason why we signed Cade." He all but confirmed it Wednesday when he said the Lions won't rotate centers and that they plan to throw their marquee offseason acquisition into the fray Sunday against the Packers: it will be Cade Mays over Juice Scruggs at center.
This is no knock on Scruggs, who's played very well in Mays' stead. This is an affirmation of the Lions' offseason plan, which was, well, centered on Mays. They didn't pay him $25 million to wait his turn.
Mays missed most of training camp and the first five games of the season after fracturing a bone in his wrist. He's slated to make his Lions debut on Sunday. Asked Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket if he plans to rotate Scruggs and Mays to work the latter back into the mix, Campbell said, "No, I don’t see us doing that."
"I think right now, the plan — Juice has done a hell of a job for us. And I’ve mentioned this before, I’m going to continue to say it: thank goodness we got Juice, man. He’s been outstanding for us. That being said, we really worked the heck out of Cade yesterday, he got some quality reps, and we would like to give him a go here, and not make that move (of rotating).
"And then obviously Juice is starting off as swinging between center and guard, as needed at center, and some guard. But yeah, we’d like to just rip this Band-Aid off of Cade. I thought he had some good work yesterday. I thought he looked pretty good."
The situation might be different if Mays were coming off, say, a major knee injury. That would probably compel the Lions to ease him back into action. But a relatively minor wrist injury is really no reason to proceed with caution.
It would absolutely be different if the Lions were facing this dilemma at guard, where in-game rotations are fairly common across the NFL. But rotating centers just isn't realistic. It would pose much more trouble than it's worth. The quarterback needs a constant.
"A guard and a center are totally different," Campbell said. "That guy is touching the ball. The snap count’s different, everything, the snap, the timing, the calls, the quarterback’s comfort just with one guy over and over."
Scruggs has done everything the Lions have asked of him, and maybe more.
He has validated their decision to acquire him in the David Montgomery trade, backing up Brad Holmes' claim that Scruggs was the piece of the package from the Texans that "put it over the top" for Detroit. He has proven that center is, indeed, his best position. And he has probably set himself up for a nice payday in free agency next spring.
"Juice is a freaking team guy," Campbell said Monday. "If it comes to that (moving him to bench), it doesn't mean that he likes it. There's definitely an argument to keep him rolling, because he's playing good football. But he's all-in. He'll do whatever we ask him to do."
The other variable here is that Christian Mahogany is finding his rhythm at left guard. Since returning from a Week 1 hip injury, he has given the Lions just what they're looking for next to left tackle Penei Sewell: steady, predictable play. That dents Scruggs' case to slide from center to guard, on top of the fact that he's played better ball in the NFL at center. Guard isn't his strength.
But this mostly goes back to Mays, and the fact that the Lions consider him a lynchpin of their offensive line. They gave him a three-year, $25 million deal to stabilize the center position. The way they see it, their best offensive line has Mays in the middle. The sooner they can bring that vision to life, the better.
Meanwhile, if further injuries arise on the interior, Scruggs gives the Lions what they were clearly lacking last season: solid, dependable depth. For that reason, don't expect the team to entertain trading him at the deadline, even in a deal for defensive help.
"The good news is, one way or another, we get Cade worked back in, with Juice playing pretty good, Mahogany's had a couple of good weeks, well, now we’ve got some guys," said Campbell. "We’ve got a pretty good crew there to go with and get better as the season goes on."
