Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

HOUSTON -- Shaun O’Hara knows the value of continuity on an offensive line.

O’Hara, now an analyst for the NFL Network, won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in the 2007 season, while playing center for a line that stayed intact all season. Not only that, four of the five Giants linemen were returning starters from both 2005 and 2006, the only exception being left guard Rich Seubert, a longtime backup with the team.

So with the right side of the Detroit Lions’ offensive line set to become unrestricted free agents next month, it’s no surprise that O’Hara advocates bringing back both guard Larry Warford and tackle Riley Reiff.

“I think the continuity, they’ve got something real good going there,” O’Hara said last week. “I think it’d be a shame to kind of break that up. But you never know, in free agency, what the market’s going to dictate.”

Both Warford and Reiff are in position to command sizable contracts this spring.

Warford, who’ll play next season at just 26 years old, is one of the two best guards on the market, along with the Cincinnati Bengals’ Kevin Zeitler. Reiff can play both tackle positions and could be coveted by a team looking for an upgrade as an edge protector.

“Larry’s good. He’s going to get paid,” said Geoff Schwartz, a lineman who spent training camp with the Lions last summer and now writes for Bleacher Report. “Someone’s going to pay Riley. I don’t know if the Lions are going to pay him or not. Someone’s going to pay him.”

Kelechi Osemele set the top of the market for guards last year when he signed a five-year, $58.5-million contract with the Oakland Raiders. Brian Winters, who’s not quite the same caliber as Warford, got a four-year, $29-million extension last month.

Schwartz predicted that “Larry’s going to get $10 million a year” this off-season.

“I think that the Lions really need to have the same five guys play every week and, going into next year, they’re either going to draft guys, bring guys in in free agency or re-sign the guys that they have to kind of keep that unit going,” Schwartz said.

Warford is coming off his best season since his rookie year of 2013. A third-rounder out of Kentucky, he struggled the last two seasons with injuries but started 16 of a possible 17 games this season, including the playoffs.

Still, Warford’s future in Detroit is uncertain, given the makeup of the roster.

Graham Glasgow started most of the season at left guard as a rookie but could end up at center in the long term. Center Travis Swanson is entering the final year of his rookie contract and missed the final month of the season with a brain injury. Laken Tomlinson, the Lions’ first-round pick in 2015, might be better suited to play right guard after struggling to adapt to the left side of the line and losing his starting job last year. And Joe Dahl, a fifth-round pick in 2016, could challenge for a starting role after playing sparingly as a backup.

“I’ve seen guys get paid really good money or get offered really good money and, sometimes, it’s hard to turn down as a player and it’s hard to match as a team,” O’Hara said. “But at the same time, I feel like Detroit’s had Larry there long enough, they could have locked him up a year ago. And sometimes, if you wait, it costs you more in the long run. It looks like Larry bet on himself, and I think he’ll win.”

The Lions are in a slightly different situation with Reiff in that they don’t have a clear replacement in the pipeline. The organization is high on Corey Robinson, but he has made just three career starts and finished this season on injured reserve.

O’Hara said he’s not sure what to make of some of the Lions’ offensive linemen because of the style of football they play.

“When I look at offensive linemen for Detroit, I kind of put them in a different category and assume they’re allergic to running the ball,” O’Hara said. “It’s kind of like 7-on-7. It’s like, man, if I’m an O-line for Detroit, I’m MFing the offensive coordinator when I come to the sideline 'cause we’re in pass pro all game long.”

Schwartz, after watching Warford, Reiff and the rest of the line up close last year, said he’s confident that both guys can play. He’s just not sure where it’ll be in 2017.

“In general, most times, new GMs don’t keep the old guys from the old staff,” Schwartz said. “So if I was leaning a direction, I’d think they let both of them walk, but I really don’t know.”

Note: Former Lions quarterback Josh McCown was released by the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday.

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Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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