Mike Payton discusses how Detroit Lions tackle Giovanni Manu could be moving inside to guard.
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00:00Here at the NFL League meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, there has been some discussion about
00:04a potential position switch for a player that the Lions traded up for in the 2024 NFL Draft.
00:09Let's talk about it.
00:13I'm Mike Payne from A to Z Sports Detroit. Today, we're going to talk about how the
00:16Lions could potentially be moving Giovanni Manu, who they traded up for last year,
00:21to guard instead of tackle. Now, this all came about as Dan Campbell was talking about Graham
00:28and potentially moving him from the left guard spot, where he kind of struggled during the end
00:32of the year, to the right guard spot, where he is known to have some success. In that explanation,
00:38he talked about the potential of moving Manu at guard and seeing if that would work. Now,
00:44that would be an interesting situation considering the size and the athleticism that Manu has is
00:50unbelievable. And that's the reason that half the league was so interested in drafting him last year
00:54and the Lions were the team that traded up and moved heaven and earth to make that happen.
00:59It's not out of the realm of possibility because last year, after the Lions drafted Manu, we talked
01:06with TSN broadcaster Farhan Lashi, and he talked about how the Lions had penciled him in at right
01:12guard from the start. So there's a potential that you're going to have Manu, Sewell right next to
01:17each other. You keep Mahogany over on the left side, Decker there on the left, and then you got
01:22Frank in the middle, obviously. Now, if the Lions go this route, if they do move him over to guard,
01:27what does that mean for the 2025 NFL draft? Well, that means a few things. They could either
01:32go out and draft a tackle, their eventual replacement for Decker, or they could say,
01:38hey, let's draft a guard for insurance. And they go out and they get a Gray Zabel or somebody like
01:42that who they feel confident can take over this role without maybe having to learn on the job
01:48like Manu will. We'll see what happens, but if Manu winds up taking on guard, it is going to be a
01:55trial-by-fire type situation where he's going to have to learn the nuances of playing guard as
02:00opposed to tackle. The guy has some smarts, and as we saw last year, while he was on redshirt,
02:07he was really starting to grow into the position, grow into being an NFL player, and everybody had
02:13nothing but good things to say about him. So we'll see where things go. But with Manu at guard,
02:19Sewell right next to him, that is a right side that I would not want to play against
02:23if I were a defensive lineman. We'll see what happens, and we'll see you next time.