The Lions acquired Cade Mays to stabilize the interior of their offensive line. They acquired Juice Scruggs to insulate it against injuries. With Mays out for the first several weeks of the season due to a broken bone in his wrist, "next man up," said Scruggs. The biggest battle in camp for the Lions is now at center.
"You never want to see a guy go down, especially in that manner and a player of his caliber," Scruggs said Sunday after practice. "But just, next man up and do what I gotta do to help the team win."
Scruggs, 26, missed a week of practice and the Lions' preseason opener with a minor injury of his own, but confirmed that it's "nothing serious." The Lions are still ramping him back into action. He opened camp repping mostly at left guard, in a competition with Christian Mahogany. But when he was out there during team periods Sunday, he was the starting center.
As he was at Penn State, and as he was for the Texans in 2024 when he played his best ball in the NFL. While Scruggs stops short of calling center his "natural" position "because I didn’t play it till I got to college," and says he'll step in for the Lions wherever he's needed, the simple fact is this: "Definitely more comfortable at center."
His strengths at the position?
"My quickness, my get-off and having everybody on the same page, I feel like I do a good job of that," he said.
When the Lions were weighing trade offers for David Montgomery this offseason, the compensation in terms of draft picks was pretty similar. Once the Texans included Scruggs along with a fourth-rounder and a future seventh, "that put it over the top," said Brad Holmes.
"There were other teams that were willing to entertain similar kind of packages, but for where we were as a team, especially from an offensive line standpoint, to add a player like Scruggs who we did a lot of work on in the draft process -- his center ability, actually, was really impressive since he's gotten to the NFL and then able to play both guard spots -- when we got Scruggs in the package, I was like, it was a done deal," said Holmes.
On Sunday, Scruggs heard this for the first time and smiled.
"I definitely didn’t know that," he said. "It’s good to know. But I had a talk with Brad when I first got here and he just told me he loves the way that I play and he’s excited to have me. Just getting that reassurance that they wanted me felt good when I first got here. Already got my confidence, but like you said, a confidence boost, for sure."
The trade initially came as a shock to Scruggs, a second round pick of the Texans in 2023. He had started 13 games for them in 2024, plus their playoff win over the Chargers. In his nine starts at center that season, Scruggs ranked 15th out of 30 qualified players at the position, per PFF. Graham Glasgow, for comparison, ranked 29th out of 32 centers last year.
Juice Scruggs on trade from Texans to Lions: “I was shocked, for sure.”
“But definitely excited when I heard it was Detroit because I remember we came here for a joint practice last year and the environment and was really cool.”
Scruggs could be Lions’ starting center Wk 1. pic.twitter.com/05Z8ltOt3Q
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) August 16, 2026
Scruggs got the bulk of his snaps over his three seasons in Houston at guard (including all of them last year), but he was strongest at the position where he thrived in college, where he was drafted in the second round, and where the Lions need him now.
This is why he's here. Detroit wanted to be better equipped to endure attrition on the offensive line this season, after crumbling amid injuries last season. Glasgow wasn't playing well to begin with, battered as he was. When he missed the Thanksgiving game against the Packers, the Lions turned to Trystan Colon. When he missed the Christmas Day game against the Vikings, they turned to Kingsley Eguakun. The Lions lost both those games, while Jared Goff was sacked eight times.
Win one of those games and they make the playoffs. Win both and they win the division. If Scruggs can give them even league-average play at center until Mays returns, the Lions will be in a much better spot. It makes the final two weeks of camp, and perhaps the final two preseason games, critical for the offensive line, where Detroit is counting on a major bounceback this year.
Asked what kind of benchmarks he wants to hit between now and Week 1, Scruggs said, "Just getting better with the rhythm of the offense, being at center now and just getting the chemistry down with Jared. Hopefully we get the chemistry down by the end of the preseason because I know it takes time, so just getting the reps together with him, that’s my goal ... We'll be ready to go, for sure."
It's no guarantee that Scruggs wins the job. The Lions, as Dan Campbell has said, are still searching for "the best five" up front. They like second-year pro and former Rimington Trophy winner Seth McLaughlin, who showed well in the preseason opener when Scruggs was sidelined. They like him a lot.
And when Scruggs was on the sidelines Sunday as the Lions ease him back into action, they played Tate Ratledge at center, with Mahogany at right guard and Ben Bartch at left. This ... did not go well. Ratledge had two bad snaps, albeit in wet conditions, further proof that he just doesn't belong at center. He prefers to play right guard, where he looks like another building block for the Lions. It would be a shock if they move him elsewhere.
The competitions to watch are realistically Scruggs and McLaughlin at center (where Scruggs is the favorite), and Mahogany and Ben Bartch at left guard (where Mahogany is the favorite). With Penei Sewell and Blake Miller holding down the tackle spots, the interior of the line is back under the microscope.
"We got a lot of youth, a lot of guys growing and getting better each day," said Scruggs. "I’m excited just to be around guys like Tate, Christian, Penei, of course, just excited to play with these guys. You can just feel the energy with them, it’s a youthful energy, so it’s definitely cool being around guys my age."
An Ohio native, Scruggs is also happy to be back in the Midwest. When the jolt of the trade wore off, he said he was "definitely excited once I learned it was Detroit, because I remember we came here for a joint practice last year and the environment was really cool." The Lions could be counting on Scruggs in a big way, in a big season.
"He does have juice," said Holmes.
