Larry Borom signed with the Detroit Lions in free agency thinking he’d have a chance to start at right tackle this fall, and nothing about his mindset has changed, even with the Lions using their first-round pick on Clemson offensive lineman Blake Miller.
“That hasn’t wavered one bit,” Borom told the Free Press after practice Sunday, Aug. 2. “That’s my plan.”
Miller has worked with the first-team offense, ahead of Borom, for most of training camp, but Lions coach Dan Campbell insisted Monday that competition for the job remains open.
Along with Miller and Borom, second-year lineman Miles Frazier has worked some with the first-team offense through the first five practices.
“This is the first day of pads,” Campbell said before practice Monday. “Blake, we feel like, has gotten a little bit better every day, and that’s a good thing. Larry’s played in this league. But now here we go, now it’s real. So we can talk about how good somebody looks, how much better they get without pads on. Well, now the pads are on. So yeah, anybody’s got a shot. So we’ll see what it looks like.”
Miller has the pedigree to be an immediate Day 1 starter for the Lions, who opened the right tackle job by moving All-Pro Penei Sewell to the left side before the draft.
The first-round pick started four years at right tackle at Clemson, never missed a game and set a school record for most snaps played on offense.
In Detroit, Miller worked as the team’s second-team right tackle at the start of organized team activities in May but surpassed Borom on the depth chart by minicamp.
Miller worked exclusively with the first-team offense in team drills the first three days of camp, then Borom took most of the first-team reps Sunday when the Lions held Miller out of 11-on-11 work with an undisclosed injury. Frazier played right tackle in most jumbo packages, with Borom working as the sixth lineman.
“My gut tells me that Blake’s going to continue to grow, but we’ll see,” Campbell said. “It goes back to what I said. I mean, we’re about to find out a lot now, so that’s good news.”
Borom said he knew there was a possibility the Lions would draft a lineman when he signed his one-year deal in March, though the team never told him it planned to take Miller with the 17th overall pick.
“I knew it was going to be a competition,” he said. “It wasn’t just a handout.”
He insisted he wasn’t upset by Miller’s selection – “I tried to not let it” play with his mind, he said – and said he does not think Miller’s draft status will factor into the decision of who starts on Sept. 13 against the New Orleans Saints.
“Just whoever plays the best. Honestly, I think that’s exactly what it comes down to,” Borom said. “Whoever plays the best and just for me personally, not having no regrets about anything. Taking it one day at a time and knowing I gave it my all no matter what.”
While Miller and Borom have dominated the discussion at right tackle, Campbell brought Frazier’s name up unprompted when asked about the competition Monday.
A fifth-round pick out of LSU in 2025, Frazier has played both guard and both tackle positions this summer. He played primarily right guard in college, but Campbell said the Lions like his versatility and he’s had “some reps” at tackle.
“Look, he’s played all the positions already in four days and some of spring, both guards, both tackles, which is another reason why we liked him, why we drafted him, because that’s what he did at LSU,” Campbell said. “He’s left tackle, he’s left guard, he’s right guard, he’s right tackle, he’s back to left guard. So, our eyes are open for him, too, I mean, don’t sleep on him.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Larry Borom drive to start at RT for Lions ‘hasn’t wavered one bit’
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
