Detroit Lions Not 'Convicted' Giovanni Manu Is Ready Yet to Contribute

Will Giovanni Manu be ready in Year 3?

Atlanta Falcons linebacker Jalon Walker (11) works against Detroit Lions offensive tackle Giovanni Manu (59) | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have several key decisions to make when next season rolls around.

Among them is just how to utilize the skillset of third-year offensive lineman Giovanni Manu. Unfortunately, injuries derailed the team's former fifth-round pick's sophomore campaign.

Detroit's offensive line has been retooled over the course of the past couple of drafts. The front office has targeted several draft prospects, but Manu was unique in that he was always meant to take a couple of years to fully develop.

A knee injury kept him out of practice since Week 5 of the regular season, and he only returned for the last couple weeks of practice. He was not ever activated on game day following his practice window opening.

General manager Brad Holmes was asked at his season-ending press conference how ready he feels Manu is to compete for the tackle position, if Taylor Decker winds up making the decision to call it a career.

“Manu, he’s taken steps. I’m not going to sit here and say that we feel convicted that he’s ready to be a major contributor. We hope that he is," said Holmes. "We’re just going to have to wait to see, in terms of when we get started in the offseason program, how he comes back in the OTAs.

"And look, as always, he’s going to have to win a job," added Holmes. "He’s going to have to beat somebody out. As much as we’re going to surround resources around him, he’s going to have to do his part, too, to make sure he’s doing everything necessary to be as good of a football player that he can be.”

Detroit could lose Decker, who is now contemplating retirement. After 10 years, he will take the necessary time to evaluate how much rehabilitation he must accomplish before the start of the 2026 season.

“He needs reps, practice reps," Dan Campbell explained, when asked how Manu had progressed in his return to practice. "Get out there against our defense, against Marcus Davenport, against Hutch (Aidan Hutchinson) in real-time practice. It’s not a ton of them. It’s not like training camp.

"Gosh, he just needs reps, man. He cannot get enough reps. If we’re able to use him, or there’s something there this year, that’s a bonus. It’s really about getting him, will this set him up better for next year, training camp going into that next year. That’s really it.”