It’s hard to find something negative to say about the Detroit Lions right now. After dropping the season opener against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions have won four straight games and are coming off an impressive 37-24 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5.
While Detroit was in control for most of the game, the Lions still needed to assess themselves as they head into a massive matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6. Getting Jameson Williams more involved may be one of their top priorities, but so is figuring out the offensive line in place of injured left tackle Taylor Decker.
With head coach Dan Campbell sounding uncertain on whether Decker will return for the showdown in Kansas City, it presumably puts Giovanni Manu in line for another start. As the second-year man’s Week 5 performance showed, though, Manu may need to be benched to give them a greater chance to win.
It Took One Start for Lions OT Giovanni Manu to Land on Thin Ice
Manu was one of the more intriguing Lions picks in recent memory after he was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 draft. After standing out at the University of British Columbia, the Lions decided to take a chance on him based on his athleticism, which produced an 8.83 relative athletic score. Despite that high athletic upside, the selection was undoubtedly a gamble considering the level of competition he faced in Canada.
The Lions were in a position to take that risk with Decker at left tackle, and the veteran even took Manu under his wing to work out this past offseason. However, after being limited to special teams snaps at the beginning of the 2025 campaign, Decker’s shoulder injury thrust him into the starting lineup.
It wasn’t all bad for Manu in his first start, as he logged a 64.3 overall grade and a 67.6 run-blocking grade, according to Pro Football Focus. But Manu failed in the most important aspect of playing left tackle, allowing a pair of sacks on 28 pass-blocking snaps.
There’s no shame in allowing Trey Hendrickson to have his way against you. But it’s another story when one of those sacks led to a Jared Goff fumble that thwarted a drive early in the game. It was still probably fresh in Campbell’s mind as he discussed whether Manu would get another start against the Chiefs.
“Up and down,” Campbell said of Manu’s performance via Mike Payton of A to Z Sports. “I thought he did some good things in the run game. I thought there were some pass plays; he did a good job. And then there were some that, man, they weren’t good, and he’ll learn from them. He’s got to learn from them.”
Getting Manu into a game is probably the best way to continue his development. But that’s hard to do when the Lions have Super Bowl aspirations. It’s even harder when Campbell acknowledges they have other options, such as veteran Dan Skipper and Devin Cochran, that could step in and perform at a higher level.
It doesn’t mean that Manu is officially a bust, but he may not be ready to play at the level the Lions need if Decker can’t go, meaning the Lions may have to wait a little longer to see what they have.