Mays is tj lang
Ok.
We lost SIX players on Sunday
Jack Campbell
DJ Wonnum
Brian Branch
DJ Reed
Jimmy Rolder
Cade Mays
It’s not that the depth rationale should be signal enough…Cade is Injured. Dude?!
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But that makes 0 logical sense. He is not injury prone for his career. He broke his wrist, an unfortunate mishap and then twisted his ankle. Those things happen. He is going to be fine.
This entire exercise is why none of us are in an NFL front office.
Brad Holmes bring in two OL. One clearly as the starter and one as a versatile back up in order to avoid 2025. He clearly understands what he has in both guys. Haley clearly sees what he has in both guys and yet the second Mays is able to return from his ankle he is put into the starting lineup. Now, because people have a clear bias for Juice after a quarter and a half people want him traded.
A) that’s not enough time for the perceived better center to get adjusted.
and
B) That’s not how talent evaluation works at all.
Juice played great yesterday, THANK GOD, and we won. There is 0 intel out there suggesting he supplanted Mays. Granted everyone is focused on Jack. But trading him makes no sense. If juice replaces Mays so be it and Dan and Hank will do what’s best for the team. But trading him is beyond horrible.
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So what good does an injured Cade do for us? If there is a team in need of a center willing to take a chance, trade him.
Seth McLaughlin is already a better center on our PS than GG was last year.
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My biggest issue with this is you are writing the story of Mays as a Detroit Lion before he gets a chance to write the first paragraph.
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Okie dokie….
What compensation are you looking for?
.
.
I am certainly not Deadstroke… but this is a fairly easy one.
.
If they trade Mays now.
Lions will have paid him $7.2 million for a few games.
And… while not paying the ~ $800k he is due for the rest of the 2026 season, would need to pay his replacement ~ $800k on a vet minimum deal to replace him on the 53-man roster.
Mays has a vet minimum base salary for 2026. He is cheap to keep for the reat of this season.
If the Lions decide to trade Mays after the season…
his next team would pay all of his remaining guaranteed money.
Zero difference if they trade him now… or trade him in March… or trade him next August.
OTOH… if Scruggs keeps playing well, he may cost even MORE to re-sign for an extension than Mays is signed for on his deal, because the cap is going up every year.
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.
I am intrigued by the chance to develop Seth McLaughlin…
but he has certainly NOT earned that kind of confidence to this point.
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Great analogy @Thats2! I like it.
If we look at his 3 year contract, as17 games/chapters a year, total of 51 games/chapters.
That’s 51 chapters, Cade has missed the first 5 chapters, played in chapter 6 and will now miss another 3,4,or 5+ more chapters.
Best ability is availability when 2 players are close in talent.
One has missed 0 time and been available for each game. The other has missed all but 1 game and more missed time ahead.
Do you want to see Juice become a FA going into 2027? I don’t, I’d put my money on this horse right now based on play and ability.
I understand the depth argument, but I don’t believe we have the luxury of allowing Juice to become a FA and get stuck with Cade’s contract going into 2027, his $6M guaranteed salary next year will prevent us from paying Juice like other teams will. Lock up Juice TY!
I’s just my opinion, I refer to it as the “Davenport syndrome” opinion.
If Juice stays in the starting lineup…
he will almost certainly become a free agent in 2027…
especially if the Lions follow your suggestion and trade Mays prior to handing Juice a large extension.
He isn’t going to sign for cheap if the Lions trade the guy they paid to be the starter for a 3 year commitment… and hand Scruggs the starting job.
The Lions would be spoon feeding leverage to Scruggs’ agent if they trade Mays prior to the deadline!
.
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I don’t care what the compensation is. It would be utterly stupid, misguided, idiotic, not smart, unintelligent, silly, asinine, obtuse, etc. to try and trade an injured player that you just paid to be grow into the C position.
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Negotiations have 2 sides:
Juice, we’d like to sign you to a nice extension, this extension is based on a trade proposal we have to make you our starting center. Sign here and now for some guaranteed generational wealth or we keep Cade moving forward and wish you the best in FA.
Hope you stay injury free the rest of this year. /s
This is an absolutely awful idea, lol.
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Scruggs has missed time, just not with us, but overall this is an issue of both snapshot and recency bias.
If you were carving out this opinion in say, October of 2025, you would say “sign Mays long-term!” and Scruggs wouldn’t be in the conversation. The idea you would keep the latter over the former would have been laughable. Obviously we know it is NOT laughable, and yet that would have been the consensus of damn near everyone.
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Agreed 
But if you’d made the same argument about mays 1 year earlier we’d be in the same position.
Cade Mays NFL outlook in October 2024:
In October of 2024, Cade Mays’ NFL reputation was at its absolute lowest point, viewed across the league as an unproven, fringe roster player and a draft bust who was struggling to stick in the NFL. [1]
At that specific moment in time, his stock was completely bottomed out due to several major setbacks:
- Waived by his original team: After struggling with pass protection while playing out of position at tackle and guard during his first two seasons, he failed to make the Carolina Panthers’ roster under new head coach Dave Canales and was waived during final roster cuts in August 2024. [1, 2, 3]
- Practice squad status: In September 2024, he went unclaimed on waivers and had to sign with the New York Giants’ practice squad, completely off the radar of active NFL rosters. [1]
- A “found money” depth signing: On October 8, 2024, the Panthers re-signed him off the Giants’ practice squad purely out of desperation for active roster depth due to mounting injuries. When he arrived back in Carolina, he was seen as a backup swing-lineman rather than a future core piece.
Edit: Let’s not forget, Cade has been in the league 1 more season than Juice.
Cade 6th round pick growing into his prime in the right position.
Juice, 2nd round pick, a year behind Cade’s growth but outperforming Cade with comparable experience level.
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Exactly. You are proving my point, because I am not saying trade Scruggs. I believe that at their peaks Mays has been substantially better, but that is merely my opinion, and I have been wrong plenty of times. But basing any move on 5 1/2 games played by Scruggs vs. 1.5 by Mays is bad process imo.
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Trade Mays now. Right now. Right this second. We might have to pay his entire salary and give up one of our picks, but do it now!
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Me too man
Same people saying trade Mays few weeks ago said Mahogany should be benched even if he was rated in top 5 OGs. All some do here is complain about different players who they dislike. Same anti Goff people, or complained about Rake not based on how they play but what they think from there couch. Mays stays an Juice stays. You lose a OG you can move Mays to OG an Juice to Center. Some here have no clue an if you mention players they have admitted they didn’t know they were on roster. I have seen this an so have others.
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Just for clarity, it seems like I am the only currently here in favor of finding a trade partner for Mays, that being the case, I was never in favor of benching Mahog for Juice or Cade. The guy is having a PB season at LG. “Don’t break what’s not broke.” That same philosophy fits our current starting center position.
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