Cade Mays Gets the Starting Center Nod for Lions vs. Packers, Scruggs on Deck

The Detroit Lions come off their bye with their healthiest roster of the season, and the first real test of their depth chart arrives Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. The center job is where it gets interesting. Head coach Dan Campbell appears to have settled it, and the answer is Cade Mays, not a rotation with Juice Scruggs.

Campbell's read on the center spot

Campbell made the case during an appearance on 97.1 The Ticket. Mays is coming back from a broken right wrist and has been out for close to a third of the season, so the decision carries some risk. Campbell's comments suggest he trusts what he saw in practice. "We really worked the heck out of Cade yesterday," Campbell said, per Lions beat writer Mike Payton, who relayed the quotes via A to Z Sports. "He got some quality reps, and we would like to give him a go here and not make that move... But yeah, we'd like to just rip this Band-Aid off of Cade. I thought he had some good work yesterday. I thought he looked pretty good."

That's a coach who wants his starter back on the field rather than easing him in through a split workload. The phrase "rip this Band-Aid off" is a pretty clear signal. Campbell would rather Mays get live snaps against a division opponent than spend another week managing reps.

Mays isn't the only comeback story. Safety Brian Branch, who is working back from a torn Achilles, is also expected to make his season debut in the same game, barring a sudden change. Having two key players returning at once gives the Lions a healthier look than they've had at any point this year, and that matters in a division race this tight.

Why Scruggs is the question nobody can ignore

The Scruggs situation is the tougher part of this. Coming out of the bye, he was one of the more pressing questions on this roster, largely because of how well he played in Mays' absence. Playing well as a fill-in is one thing. Making a case for a starting job when the team has invested heavily in someone else is another.

The financial picture is hard to ignore. The Lions signed Mays to a three-year, $25 million deal in free agency, making him the team's biggest signing of the offseason. Teams rarely bench a player they've committed that kind of money to without a strong reason, and this one has pointed in one direction since the spring. It's no surprise that Mays is the one getting the first crack at the job.

Scruggs' numbers are hard to dismiss, though. Pro Football Focus has him with the second-best overall grade (75.6) among the 35 qualified centers. His pass-blocking grade (65.4) ranks 14th, and his run-blocking grade (83.8) is the best among that group. Those grades suggest a player who is doing his job at a high level, not just filling a gap.

The complication is that Scruggs is a center, not a tackle, so his path to a starting spot on the interior runs through the same bottleneck. The Lions have gotten strong play from Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge, who have locked down the guard and tackle spots, so there isn't an obvious opening unless the team considers moving Mahogany to left guard. That possibility is speculation at this point, not a plan Campbell has described.

A trade is also a theoretical option. Nothing in Campbell's comments points that way, and it would be a separate conversation from Sunday's lineup. Still, the fact that Scruggs is performing this well makes him a valuable piece to keep around, whether he starts or not.

The bigger picture for the offense and defense

The Lions are 3-2 and still in the middle of the NFC North race, which is why the Packers game matters. Green Bay enters at 4-2, and the undefeated Minnesota Vikings are next on the schedule after that, so the next two weeks will tell us a lot about where this team really stands.

The defense is the part that has cost them. Detroit has allowed a combined 73 points across its two losses, and that's the kind of total that turns close games into losses. The offense has offset a lot of that. The Lions are tied for the most points scored per game at 32.8, which is a number that keeps them in every game.

Protection has been part of that story too. The offensive line has allowed 11 sacks to quarterback Jared Goff, which is well below the league-high 24 the Browns have given up to Deshaun Watson. Goff has put up MVP-caliber numbers with 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions through the first five games, and he has done it without Mays on the field. That raises the ceiling on what the line can do once Mays is fully back.

Mays has shown strength in pass protection and an ability to move defenders downfield, even if his body of work is still young. A healthy Mays alongside Scruggs as a backup would give the Lions an unusually stable interior, and that depth could come in handy the next time an injury or a bad week forces a change.

What to watch Sunday

My read is that Campbell has made the expected call and is doing it for good reasons. The real test is what happens if Mays struggles early. If he does, the Lions have a proven alternative in Scruggs, and Campbell's willingness to move quickly will show how much he values the depth. If Mays looks sharp, the Scruggs question stays on the back burner, and the Lions get a stronger line for the stretch run.

Either way, this is a pivotal divisional game, and the center spot is one of the first places the outcome will show up.