The Detroit Lions released their final injury report of the week on Friday, complete with game designations, and it revealed that 2024 third-round pick and offensive lineman Giovanni Manu is one injury away from seeing the field on offense.
The Lions have officially ruled out backup offensive tackle Jamarco Jones with an ankle injury. Jones was added to the injury report on Thursday and did not practice Friday before he was ruled out.
Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network noted that tackle Dan Skipper, who was cut and brought back on the practice squad, is also dealing with an injury and didn't practice all week.
A quick scan of the Lions' depth chart reveals that Manu and Jones are the only backups listed at the tackle spots, so that means Manu is the last man standing among official backup tackles on the 53-man roster.
That also means that if there's an injury to either left tackle Taylor Decker or right tackle Penei Sewell, Manu will likely be the guy to replace them.
If that happens, Manu would be playing the first offensive snaps of his NFL career. The British Columbia product was widely considered a project upon being drafted, thus he didn't see the field at all during his rookie season.
We did see Manu during the preseason.
In 143 snaps (82 pass-blocking), Manu gave up eight pressures but no sacks and posted a Pro Football Focus grade of 44.0 in run-blocking and 58.2 in pass-blocking.
Those numbers were actually worse than his first preseason, when he surrendered half the number of pressures and posted PFF grades of 63.2 in pass-blocking and 43.3 in run-blocking.
Head coach Dan Campbell gave Manu a mixed review in early August, saying the second-year offensive lineman had "more downs than ups" in training camp, but he was pleased with how Manu performed in the Hall of Fame Game.
Then he said this in the middle of August:
“When you go against some really good players, particularly if you have to go against them day after day, you either crumble or you get better,” Campbell said of Manu later in the month. “You have no choice because those players will bury you. And so I feel like as long as he stays open and he doesn’t lose confidence and he keeps trying to hone his craft against those players, he will elevate."
“I feel like he’s trying to learn, he’s trying to get better, and so that’s all you can really ask for right now," Campbell added.
What all of this says is that there is no guarantee Manu will be able to answer the bell if his number is called, and that's concerning.
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