The Detroit Lions announced on Wednesday they have signed offensive lineman Ben Bartch. Last week, the Lions brought in Bartch for a free agency visit.
Bartch is a former fourth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020, and has had a fascinating journey to the NFL as a former D3 school player (Saint John’s). Unfortunately for Bartch, his career hasn’t taken off as expected, largely due to injuries.
Here’s some of what we wrote about Bartch in the news story about his visit.
As expected, his first year was mostly spent in development, but in Year 2, he started 11 games for the Jaguars—all at right guard. He earned the starting left guard spot entering Year 3. But five games in, he suffered a dislocated knee, ending his season. The next year, he was the presumed starting guard again, but was benched and waived after poor play.
Since then, he has been with the San Francisco 49ers starting four games in 14 game appearances over the last three seasons. Again, injuries have been to blame for some of his lack of production. He made the 49ers’ 53-man squad last year, but an ankle and foot sprain limited him to six games.
In Detroit, Bartch joins a crowded interior offensive line competition. With Cade Mays and Tate Ratledge likely holding down two of the three starting roles, Detroit has a ton of options to compete for the final guard spot, including Juice Scruggs, Christian Mahogany, Miles Frazier, Seth McLaughlin, Michael Niese, and Colby Sorsdal.
In his career, Bartch has started 24 games in the NFL, 11 at right guard, but 13 more recently at left guard.
No contract terms were made immediately available for the signing.
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