Christian Mahogany was a week removed from playing in last year’s Shrine Bowlcollege all-star game when he texted a group chat of friends he plays the videogame “Madden” with online and told them there was one team he most wanted toplay for in the NFL “I wanna be in detroit,” Mahogany wrote Feb. 9 in a text message he showed to theFree Press after Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears. “This is an O-line place. Gritty,” Mahogany explained of his reasoning. “I said | wantto be in Detroit, me and Penei Sewell.” Mahogany got his wish, though riot exactly the way he hoped when he slid to thesixth round in April’s draft over medical concerns and the Lions took him with the210th overall pick. On Sunday, Mahogany made his first career start as an injury fill-in for GrahamGlasgow and showed why he felt like he belonged. He played left guard sandwiched betwe~*~terans Taylor Decker and FrankRagnow. He earned high marks from Pi thall Focus for his blocking. And heshowed enough nastiness to think he could challenge for a full-time starting jobsomewhere down the road. “It was solid,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “He did some really good things, sothere’s certainly something to continue to work with there and improve.” Mahogany’s performance was especially encouraging because of the road he tookto get there. After making a favorable first impression in spring workouts after the draft,Mahogany missed all of training camp with mononucleosis and opened the seasonon the nonfootballiiness list. The Lions activated him to their 53-man roster in late October, and less than amonth later and with no game reps to draw from, the Boston College productsurpassed trusted veteran Kayode Awosika on the Lions’ depth chart as the team’sNo. 3 guard. Awosika made fill-in starts at both guard spots in the season’s first six games andstarted for the Lions in last year’s NFC championship loss to the San Francisco49ers. Campbell said the Lions decided to bur~—**-hogany up the depth chart based on“just the amount of development thatt ace during that period” after hereturned. “He’s a young guy and it’s really that you’re not going to know (if he’s ready toplay) unless you go,” Campbell said. “You feel like you see the improvement and thelast thing to find out is, ‘Can he play in a real game? You feel like he can, and so itwas just, we felt like he went there. Yode (Awosika) has been solid, he’s been steady.We like Yode, we know what Yode can do. But we needed to find out withMahogany and seeing the growth and the development, it was time.” Against the Bears, Mahogany allowed one quarterback hit by Chris Williams on athird-down incompletion and was penalized once for a false start, but made keyblocks in pass protection and the run game on several of the Lions’ big gains. Hesaid after the game he felt “good” about his debut overall, without having thebenefit yet of watching the tape. “It was fun,” he said. “It was everything | thought it would be. Definitely things toimprove on for sure, but that’s what watching the tape’s for, to get better, right?Nobody’s perfect. | know I’m not, so I’m glad for the opportunity to get better andsee what happens next week” Campbell said Monday that Glasgow will return to the starting lineup for this week’srematch with the 49ers. Still, it’s not unreasonable to think Mahogany could pushfor more playing time and perhaps a starting job next fal. Glasgow is 32 and the Lions’ most versatile interior lineman, but has beeninconsistent at times this year. Right guard Kevin Zeitler has played at a Pro Bowllevel this season, but turns 35 in March and will be a free agent after the year.However things shake out in the future, Mahogany is focused on getting better inthe here and now and helping the Lions win more games. “Everything happens for a reason, | believe, so this happened for a reason,”Mahogany said. “I’m glad that | got (my first start) out the way and I’m ready toimprove and see what | can do for my teammates, coaches and this franchise.”
