Just because the Lions signed two offensive linemen with more than 200 games of NFL experience between them, they don’t want anyone to think it’s a reflection on the current group.
Especially not a third-round guard they drafted to be a starter.
“It’s absolutely not an indictment on anybody,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “It’s just a fact of being able to add quality players and keep adding them. We have 90 guys in camp, so might as well take advantage of that and set ourselves up the best we can.”
The Lions signed Leroy Harris and Jake Scott over the previous two days, adding 206 games of experience and 170 starts to a group that has seen a drastic makeover.
After losing tackles Jeff Backus (retirement) and Gosder Cherilus (free agency) and cutting former starting guard Stephen Peterman, the Lions are shuffling the deck. Unable to draft a tackle early, they moved 2012 first-rounder Riley Reiff to left tackle, and took Larry Warford in this year’s third round with designs on making him the starting right guard.
“Larry’s going to be a good player, he’s just got to learn the game,” left guard Rob Sims said. “That’s the hardest thing about learning the technique here, it’s hard to just come right out of the gate and just know everything. He’s listening, and he’s learning, and he’s going to be a good player down the line.”
And if he’s not a good player immediately, they have a couple of options to look at in case.