The interior offensive line has emerged as one of the big topics of conversation during the first week of Detroit Lions OTAs. Coach Matt Patricia is shuffling the deck, moving last year’s starting center Graham Glasgow to right guard, shifting Frank Ragnow from left guard to center and Kenny Wiggins from the right to the left at guard.
It’s all experimental, an effort to get the best combination of five players in front of Matthew Stafford at quarterback. “It’s just a great opportunity for us to get a look at all different sort of combinations of players that we have,” Patricia said before Tuesday’s practice.
The second-year coach elaborated on why he believes in Glasgow and his ability to play guard.
“He is very versatile,” Patricia enthused. “The thing about Graham, I always forget, all the time—he’s actually, he’s very long. He’s tall. He’s got good, short-space quickness, which in the guard position is really good, especially against some of the quicker defensive tackles that we’re seeing nowadays.”
Glasgow is now entering his fourth year with the Lions, and he has emerged as a steady starter. His versatility helps, and it’s something his coach clearly values.
“So, he’s very intelligent, very smart,” Patricia said of Glasgow. “When you’re a center, you’re the guy that’s usually directing the traffic between all five guys, so understanding that position helps him be a better guard and his ability to then communicate out to the tackles, and some of the protection looks is also real valuable from that standpoint. Real athletic guy, has that versatility and again, like I said, he’s a lot longer than you think. He has great length to him, which is good inside to keep those guys off of him.”
