Giovanni Manu’s Last Stand Might Be at a Completely Different Position
The Detroit Lions are moving Giovanni Manu around the offensive line like a chess piece nobody quite knows how to use. After being drafted in 2024, the Lions are giving him looks at guard this summer. This might be his final chance to prove he belongs in Honolulu Blue.
Look, the Lions don’t make a whole lot of mistakes when it comes to the NFL Draft. They’ve drafted more All-Pro players since 2021 than anyone and they’ve managed to keep the large majority of their draft picks during this time on the roster and in important roles. Then there’s Manu.
The Lions traded up to get him in the 2024 NFL Draft, and yeah, the hype was real at the time. Almost every single team had him in for a visit there was some belief that had the Lions not moved up, they weren’t getting him. After two seasons, it still feels like he’s two seasons away from being to the point where the Lions might be able to get something out of him and it also feels like this summer is his last chance.
The Guard Experiment Makes Sense, Sort Of
Dan Campbell explained the position switch this summer. “That’s some of what this is, let’s experiment a little bit. We’ve had a couple of injuries, or the bugs that – maybe a guy that normally would play guard we don’t [have], so let’s put him in there, it’s actually kind of worked out good and just see what he looks like at guard.”
Campbell continued: “So he’s still getting tackle reps, we’re seeing – we’re trying to give him the best opportunity to showcase what he has and who knows? Maybe he is better at guard, we still think tackle but if he can prove something then that’s good so we’ll see, he’s been here, he’s been working and we won’t know until camp.”
Here’s the thing: before the Lions drafted Manu, he told media that the Lions told him that they were thinking of him at guard. So this isn’t some desperate Hail Mary. It tracks with their original thought process for him. If he can nail it down, he would make for one mountain of a guard.
The Competition Is Brutal
The problem Manu runs into is that the competition at guard is really stiff right now. Christian Mahogany, Juice Scruggs, Miles Frazier, Ben Bartch, and Michael Niese are all fighting for spots. They have the benefit of the fact that they’ve played guard before. All of them have done it in the NFL as well.
That’s the reality Manu is walking into. He’s trying to learn a new position while competing against guys who already know it. But maybe that’s exactly what he needs. A fresh start at a spot where his size and power might translate better than they have at tackle.
We’ll see what happens at camp, but maybe this is Manu’s chance to land a roster spot. Either Manu figures it out at guard and carves out a role on this roster, or this experiment becomes the final chapter of a draft pick that never quite worked out the way anyone hoped.
Is moving Manu to guard a stroke of genius or just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? Tell us what you think below.
