The Detroit Lions had high hopes for rookie guard Miles Frazier when they made a move up the NFL draft board to land him this spring, but they’re still waiting to see what he can do on the field.
They just moved one big step closer to seeing it.
The Lions announced this week that they opened the 21-day practice window for Frazier, who was placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list during training camp after suffering a knee injury. The move could be a prelude to Frazier joining the active roster, though head coach Dan Campbell said there are no immediate expectations that the former LSU star will immediately jump into a big role.
Dan Campbell Calls Rookie a ‘Baby Fawn’
Campbell spoke to reporters about Frazier’s return to practice, saying he expected to rookie to come along slowly after missing several months of critical development time.
“No training camp, no nothing, so this will be a little bit of a baby fawn at the beginning and then he’ll quickly grow,” Campbell said Wednesday, via the team’s official website. “It’s a little bit like (Lions OL Christian) Mahogany (last year). It took a while but once we got him, he just quickly grew with practice reps.”
As the report noted, Frazier earned a reputation as a versatile lineman during his time at LSU. He was a three-year starter, mostly at right guard but also spending time at left guard and right tackle.
The Lions saw promise, moving up in the fifth round to land him.
“Well, he’s versatile,” Campbell said. “He can play the guard, he can play tackle – he did both of those at LSU. He can sustain blocks, he’s got power, he’s pretty tenacious, he finishes. There’s a lot of things that we like about him. He’s going to need reps.”
Lions Lose Another Young Offensive Lineman
As Frazier moves one step closer to his return to the Lions, the team lost another standout young lineman as Mahogany was placed on injured reserve. He was hurt during a collision in the team’s Week 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, which Campbell revealed this week was a broken bone.
âFor what the injury isâitâs a broken boneârelative to injuries, thatâs a good thing,â Campbell said, via SB Nation’s Pride of Detroit. âI think, will heal up; itâll be stronger than it was before.â
While Frazier could eventually serve as a depth option along the offensive line, Campbell said the immediate plans to replace Mahogany included veteran Kayode Awosika with some work from Trystan Colon.
âI think weâll start right now as usual. (Awosika) Yode goes in, and then we may start putting (Trystan) Colon in some spots here and move these guys around today and tomorrow,â Campbell said. âSo, weâll start as we kind of ended that game the other day, and then maybe weâll start moving some pieces around. So, thatâs kind of where Iâm at now. Doesnât mean that I will do it, but I mean Iâd like to do it today, at least a play or two, and see what that looks like, see where weâre at. Maybe some walkthrough reps.â
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