GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Get ready to scratch that football itch tonight when your Detroit Lions travel down to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals for the first of three preseason games.
You can watch all three here on FOX 17.
I had a chance to talk with Mlive's Lion Beat Reporter Ben Raven before he made the drive down to Cincinnati about what fans can expect for game one, and he told me the offensive line will be one of the spots to pay extra attention to. Especially following projected starting Center Cade Mays' wrist injury.
"He's gonna miss a significant amount of time," Rave told me. "Expected back at some point, but right now, I mean, that's another good name to watch is Seth McLaughlin, who's taken over kind of the starting center reps in recent days with Mays out. Like that's a good opportunity for him. He spent last year on Cincinnati's practice squad, so he's going back. But I mean, this is someone that, two years ago, was college football's best center in the nation as the Remington Award winner. Just had a ruptured Achilles injury coming out in November that year, so that really put him on the shelf. And it's, I mean, it's a real opportunity for him. But I will say it with a caveat that once Juice Scruggs is back, the interior offensive lineman they got in the David Montgomery trade, I would. I'm like 95% sure he'll be the starting center until Mays is back."
WHAT FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
The other big area of interest is the secondary. Both safeties - Brain Branch and Kirby Joseph - are still sidelined with injury, leading to a lot of interest in who will take reps in those starter roles to begin the season.
"Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox, by all accounts, seem like they're going to be the starting safeties until those two are back," said Raven. "But you know, it's Branch has been moving well. Like I've liked what I've seen from Branch. It's like, wow, that guy's eight months removed from an Achilles injury. That looks pretty good. I'm no doctor or anything, but it's just - I said this the other day too - I'm a little more concerned about Joseph than Branch right now. You know, Branch seems to be. I don't know. There's an Achilles, a terrible injury with a lengthy timeline, but we know what it is. There's just the cloud of uncertainty with Joseph and the lack of answers, and it's been going on for a year plus now. It's tough, yeah. It's really, I mean, Dan Campbell says Kirby Joseph remains on the Branch plan, which is down the road once the season's already begun, still vague. You know that that's the part that concerns me is just how vague it's been about Joseph for a team that is kind of rarely vague about stuff like that."
Read more stories from the FOX 17 Morning News team
Do you have an idea for the Morning News team or maybe an idea for a guest segment or something for the gang to come out and try? Send them an email at mornings@fox17online.com or call 616-447-5252 and leave a message.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
