Despite returning to practice on Tuesday, it’s no guarantee that Lions rookie guard Christian Mahogany is eventually making the 53-man roster.
On Tuesday, the Detroit Lions returned sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany to practice after his long stint on the non-football illness list. After practicing in minicamp over in the spring, Mahogany missed all of training camp and was ineligible to practice for the first four weeks of the regular season.
According to coach Dan Campbell, it was pretty apparent this week that Mahogany had missed so much time on the field.
“He looked like that was his first day of practice. It’s like his first practice and it’s his first NFL practice, which you would expect,” Campbell said.
With Mahogany’s practice window now open, he remains on the non-football injury list, but the Lions have 21 days to decide whether he’s ready to join the 53-man roster. At any point, they can elevated him to the roster, as long as there is an open spot. If they deem him not ready, they’ll shut him down for the season and keep him on the non-football injury list, where he’d be ineligible to play or practice for the rest of the year. He cannot go straight to the practice squad.
In most cases, these players are eventually activated—particularly if they return to practice this early in the season—but Campbell indicated on Wednesday that may not be the case with Mahogany.
“We just need to see this improvement from him, and then we’ll assess it after that,” Campbell said. “I think that if he shows that he’s just taking these steady steps, it may be hard not to want to put him on the roster, but we’ll see. I can’t answer that just right now.”
Many considered Mahogany a Day 2 level prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft, but his injury history may have caused him to fall. He was a full-time starter for three years at Boston College, only missing his redshirted freshman year in 2019 and the entire 2022 season with a torn ACL. His final season at Boston College, he earned All-ACC honors and finished 38th in the country in PFF grade (74.9) among guards.
The Lions don’t necessarily have a pressing need among their interior offensive line depth. Last game, with Graham Glasgow covering for Frank Ragnow at center, Detroit relied upon Kayode Awosika to step in at left guard, and Campbell was happy with the job he did.
“It’s always good to be able to verify that we trust ‘Yode (Awosika), we feel like he can step in when we need him, and he did it once again,” Campbell said.
Detroit also has Michael Niese and Colby Sorsdal on the 53-man roster for depth and multiple positions.
So we’ll see with Mahogany. The next three weeks are essential for his growth, as it could be the difference between getting and additional two months of development on the field with an NFL team, or having to wait until spring 2025 to get back on the practice field.
