Mahogany: After fighting through an illness, Lions rookie thankful for this 'surreal' opportunity

I really believe this guy is one of the future OL stalwarts, possibly next year.

# After fighting through an illness, Lions rookie thankful for this ‘surreal’ opportunity
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“I’m thankful for my family, my girlfriend, for everyone around me,” Christian Mahogany was saying. “I’m thankful for my teammates, of course, the coaches, the staff here.”

He was standing in front of his locker in the Lions locker room. “You never can say enough thanks, right?” he said, sincerely. “I’m just thankful to be here in general.”

Just being here is a complicated story. The Lions picked Mahogany, a guard from Boston College, in the sixth round of the 2024 Draft. He went through rookie minicamp and OTAs, and everything was going great, as he prepared for his first training camp.

Then it all fell apart when he got sick in mid-July.

At the worst possible time.

“I went to multiple doctors,” Mahogany said. “One doctor thought it was strep.”

He had lost a bunch of weight – around 30 pounds – and was down to 300.

“I just felt sick,” he said.


By November, it was clear the Lions were impressed with his improvement.

“Since he’s come off of IR, you’ve seen Christian grow immensely,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said on Nov. 21. “I wish – I really wish we, as a staff really wish, he would have been available there in the preseason because those would’ve been huge games to really get a gauge for where he’s at right now, and it’s a little bit harder in practice.

"Sometimes we have pads on, sometimes we don’t. But, from the one-on-one aspect, the pass-pro and run blocking, you see flashes of immense potential right there. So, we’ll continue to try to find where we can slip him in to get him more experience, but he’s a guy that we have high hopes for.”

Flashes of immense potential?

Did you catch that? Johnson doesn’t throw around a phrase like that casually.

And it’s why this is more than a cute comeback story.


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I honestly think Mahogany is one of our answers already on the roster for when Glasgow and/or Zeitler move on. His stunted rookie season has made that less obvious than it would have been otherwise, but he has by far the highest ceiling of any of the depth guys. And our coaches are excellent at getting players to reach their ceilings.

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I hope the injury isn’t a stain on Mahongany’s reputation.

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Plus peg legged lineman are more fun

I wonder what the difference is between his two legs? If it’s enough teams are actually worried about it (thus the fall), could it really affect his play? Of course it could have just been that panicky stuff you see from GMs who don’t want to be wrong and just leave it to someone else.

Day 3 is just so damn inefficient. GMs go off the board and pick their pet projects. They allow for too much need over value. They probably relent to coaching staff desires without much resistance. We’re great at day three. Disciplined, value focused, etc.

I actually think round three is kind of the ideal trade asset for us. I don’t think you’re especially likely to have passed on a truly transcendent player down there. Or in the very least finding him is hardly more likely at pick 100 than 150.

Agree 100%

I agree, which is why it sucks we have no round 3 pick.

Yet.

What a waste of a pick! Worse Lions draft in history. Mahogany, Manu, Terrion, and Terry Fair.

Brad Holmes sucks! What kind of idiot drafts someone that is gonna get sick…am I right???

Seth Meyers Boo GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers

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I’m just glad to see he is finally out of the woods.

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Sneaky and good.

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Good to hear. It would be nice to get him up and going and playing at a level where he can contribute or be on stand by for the playoff run.

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I wood think knot.

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Remind me. Does he play left or right guard predominantly?

Run of the mill pun

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I’d like to go out on a limb and say It’s a very poplar pun.

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I hate acorny wood pun but I don’t want to cast any shade.

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Both, but I’m hoping for us long-term he’s a LG

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That would be ideal since Glasgow is better on the right.

Can Mahogany play DL? Asking for a friend.

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