The Detroit Lions offensive line is in very good shape from center to left tackle. Frank Ragnow is an emerging star at center, if a pivot can become one. Taylor Decker is one of the best all-around left tackles in the league, while Jonah Jackson showed a high ceiling in an up-and-down rookie season at left guard.
The right side? There is potential but also potential for change. And one of the big questions there is Big V, Halapoulivaati Vaitai.
Signed last offseason to tackle-level money, Vaitai struggled to stay healthy and didn’t play well at right tackle when given the chance. Tyrell Crosby outshined him at tackle and proved perfectly capable of being a solid long-term starter. Vaitai was better, relatively speaking, when he played inside at guard, but the opposite was true during his pre-Lions career with the Eagles.
Head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Vaitai’s future with the team in his free agency press conference on Monday. Campbell hinted that Vaitai’s future, at least in 2021, is as the team’s starting right guard.
“Look, I would say the most obvious answer to that question to start without alluding would be that until we get our eyes on him and see kind of where we feel like he fits the best, it’s kind of hard to just put that in stone,” Campbell said. “But I will say this, and we’ve talked to him about it; we’re a little intrigued about moving him inside to guard. That does intrigue us. And so, we may, as a starting point, kind of work there and see where we’re at.”
Campbell left open the concept of having a training camp battle at right tackle between Vaitai, Crosby and Matt Nelson, too.
“But we’ve got enough guys on this roster to where – between (Vaitai) and Crosby and Nelson, you kind of let them fight it out a little bit and just see what comes out and who fits best where. Again, that’s tentatively right now, before we’ve done anything else (in) free agency or in the draft. I would say the thought of moving him inside would intrigue us a little bit.”
The team does still have last year’s fourth-round pick, Logan Stenberg, in the potential mix for the right guard spot, though he wasn’t impressive enough as a rookie to be active even when the team faced serious attrition along the line. Veterans Joe Dahl and Oday Aboushi are no longer with the team.