Allen Park — Ahead of the Detroit Lions’ Week 9 game against the Minnesota Vikings, offensive guard Christian Mahogany had a message for his friend and coworker Miles Frazier.
Frazier, an offensive lineman who was a fifth-round pick by Detroit this past spring, was on the verge of being activated from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, and Mahogany wanted to make sure that he was mentally prepared to meet the moment.
“He was like, ‘Be ready. You never know when your number’s gonna be called,'” Frazier said.
A few days later, Mahogany broke a bone in his leg that is expected to keep him out until at least late December. And while Frazier undoubtedly has a lot of work to do before the Lions can trust him in a game setting, Mahogany’s instruction proved prescient.
“When he got hurt, he came to me and was like, ‘See?'” Frazier said. “Christian’s my dog, so hearing those words from him means a lot.”
Mahogany wasn’t so much predictive as he was just speaking from experience. He also had a delayed start to his NFL career, having contracted a case of mononucleosis that cost him his entire training camp, an extremely important part of a rookie’s acclimation to NFL speed and conditioning, as well as the coaching staff’s trust in said player.
Frazier missed his first training camp — and the first nine weeks of his rookie season — because of a knee injury that he sustained during the offseason program, the first long-term injury of his 19-year football career.
After returning to practice this week, Frazier said he became emotional when popping pads for the first time.
“I almost cried. Because it’s like, this is — I’m just grateful. I’m just thankful. Even with scout-team reps — they needed me at linebacker, kicker — wherever they need me to go, I’m going,” Frazier said.
“So, I’m just blessed. … I feel like this opportunity is a humbling experience, not being able to play at first. But now that I’m back, I’m just grateful. Wherever they need me, that’s where I’ll be.”
Could Frazier wind up pinch-hitting as a starter on the offensive line like Mahogany did a year ago? Mahogany subbed in for Graham Glasgow at left tackle for a game late in the season, then played for the injured Kevin Zeitler in Detroit’s playoff loss, and held his own in both appearances, especially considering the circumstances.
Those expectations are probably too lofty to pin on Frazier. Still, he believes he’ll need just “one or two weeks for me” to feel Sunday-ready. Conditioning is the least of his worries, he said. On his first day back, he took snaps at both guard spots and right tackle.
“It felt pretty good, I’m not gonna lie,” Frazier said, asked if he felt like a “baby fawn” like Dan Campbell expected him to be. “Football is football, and at the end of the day, this is the best level, but I feel like our group that we have here — I’m surrounded by very good vets — so I’m just getting knowledge from them. The whole time, I was here in meetings; the whole time, I was doing my workouts and stuff like that, so I feel glad I didn’t miss a beat.”
Frazier started 15 games at Florida International, then transferred to LSU and started 39 games for the Tigers, playing every position on the offensive line except center — “Never played it, but I could,” he said this week — during his college career.
His potential has probably flown under the radar because the Lions already have two young guards in Mahogany and Tate Ratledge, and not much has been said or heard about Frazier since training camp began.
But he was arguably one of the team’s biggest draft-day steals of 2025, with a number of top analysts having him ranked right around Ratledge, who went in the second round.
“He can play guard, he can play tackle, he did both of those at LSU,” Campbell said this week. “He can sustain blocks, he’s got power, he’s pretty tenacious, he finishes.
“He was kind of the guy that you just look around, you’re like, ‘This guy just always makes blocks. He’s just always on his guy and he’s just always finishing down the field. And if he does get beat, it’s never fast. Guy has got to try to freaking bowl him, finally get an edge, quarterback’s holding onto the ball and it’s a late (throw), something else.
“Those are the things you want to see.”
As for his relationship with Mahogany, Frazier said the two have become “very close” after bonding over their New Jersey roots and similar personalities.
Though Frazier is hoping to carve out a role of his own, he believes it’s only a matter of time before Mahogany returns to his.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to him, but he’s high-spirited, he’s still in meetings, I see him in the training room, grinding right now,” Frazier said.
“So I feel like he’ll be back very soon. Like, sooner than expected. Whatever his timeline is, I don’t know, I feel like he’ll be back before that.”
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
@nolanbianchi
