Without a doubt, this season hasn’t gone the way the Detroit Lions had hoped. Despite winning a crucial game against the Dallas Cowboys to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Lions haven’t been the dominant team they were the last two years. Injuries continue to decimate them on both sides, forcing them to rely on their depth players to step up for most of the season.
While head coach Dan Campbell has done a fine job preparing and elevating his backup’s performance, this isn’t an ideal way to manage. However, with Lions’ left tackle Taylor Decker's nagging shoulder injury, coupled with a recent report that he’s potentially contemplating retirement this offseason, per Detroit Free Press Dave Birkett, Campbell and company must look to 2024 tackle Giovanni Manu down the stretch.
Lions Could Look to Put Giovanni Manu as Backup LT
With Colby Sorsdal and Jamarco Jones currently on the injured reserve, the Lions have tasked Dan Skipper to be the team’s swing tackle. For the majority of Skipper’s seven-year career, he’s served as the primary backup to any injured tackle and has been deployed as an extra blocker due to his powerful six-foot-nine-inch frame.
Even though the Lions fully trust him to be their top backup option, Skipper hasn’t proven to be reliable. Looking at the last four seasons, Skipper hasn’t posted an overall grade higher than 60.1, per Pro Football Focus. Since they’re already dealing with numerous injuries to the offensive line, it may be best for the Lions to turn to Manu to be the team’s backup left tackle when he’s healthy.
It’s already evident that the team prefers Manu over Skipper, as they chose him to start in place of Decker in the team’s Week 6 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately for Manu, he suffered a knee injury in his first NFL start and has been on injured reserve since. The Lions selected Manu in the fourth round of the 2024 draft in an effort to bolster their depth at tackle.
The problem is, Manu has hardly played, and there haven’t been any medical updates on him since November. He’s been on the field for just 69 snaps for his career, all of which came from this season, and has just one start under his belt. In his lone start, Manu logged an atrocious 42.2 offensive grade and 17.5 pass block grade.
Although he played terribly, it was just one game, and we cannot write off Manu just yet. The Lions clearly have trust in Manu to be their backup and want to develop him. With Decker playing through injury and potentially mulling retirement, the Lions urgently need Manu to return.
While Skipper has been a sufficient placeholder at best, we already know his ceiling. With Manu, it’s undetermined what kind of player he is, and the Lions must understand what they have with him if Decker decides to hang it up after this season.
More importantly, the Lions desperately need Manu back to bolster their offensive line during this all-important stretch run in case they sustain any more injuries.