Detroit Lions new OL: Projecting roles for Kenny Wiggins, Wesley Johnson

Finances won't necessarily dictate who starts on the Detroit Lions' offensive line this fall, but the contracts of new additions Kenny Wiggins and Wesley Johnson at least provide some insight into what the Lions are thinking.

The Lions return four of five starters from last year's offensive line, and those four players — Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, T.J. Lang and Rick Wagner — appear to be locked into 3.5 spots up front.

Decker will play left tackle this fall, Wagner will play right tackle, Lang returns at right guard, and Glasgow is a wildcard who will start at either center or left guard after splitting time at the positions last season.

Unless the Lions add a rookie in the draft, the fifth starting spot should come down to Joe Dahl, who played well enough in a cameo at the end of last season to warrant a look at left guard come training camp; Wiggins, a guard by trade who played one season previously for new Lions offensive line coach Jeff Davidson; and Johnson, a 15-game starter at center for the New York Jets last year.

Dahl earned a spot in the competition by virtue of the three starts he made late in 2017, though the Lions clearly aren't handing him a starting job. He hasn't played much to this point in his career because of injuries and the learning curve he encountered as a rookie, but he's a Bob Quinn draft pick, which counts for something.

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Of the two free-agent offensive linemen they signed this spring, it's clear the Lions project Wiggins to have a bigger role.

Wiggins signed a two-year deal that's worth up to $5 million and includes a $750,000 signing bonus. That's significant money. Not enough to guarantee him a place in the Week 1 lineup, but enough to think he'll take the first rep at left guard when the Lions have their voluntary minicamp later this month.

(Wiggins' full contract includes base salaries of $1.25 million and $2.5 million the next two years, with $250,000 in 46-man roster bonuses available each year.)

Johnson, meanwhile, signed a one-year, minimum-salary-benefit deal worth $880,000 total ($790,000 in base salary with a $90,000 signing bonus). That's the kind of contract typically given to veteran backups (think Nick Bellore, who saw spot duty at linebacker and fullback for the Lions last year), and puts him squarely behind Wiggins in the offensive line pecking order.

So what does it all mean for the Lions' offensive line?

Well, with both tackle spots and the right guard position spoken for, it appears that the Lions are entering spring with the idea of starting Glasgow at center and Wiggins at left guard, with Johnson and Dahl as their respective backups.

The door isn't closed on competition. Dahl still could win the starting left guard job, and it's possible the Lions take a lineman high in the draft that would throw the center and/or left guard spots up for grabs. With Glasgow, Dahl, Lang and Wiggins all playing on contracts that expire after the 2019 season, that might even be a wise thing to do.

But with five months until the season begins and all of the heavy lifting in free agency past, the Lions' offensive line — a group new coach Matt Patricia has high hopes for in 2018 — is starting to take shape.

"I think Bob obviously put a lot of effort into it in the previous years to make us very competitive up front," Patricia said last week. "So I'm excited to see what that'll look like."

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!