A look at the Lions' current starting offensive line

When the 2015 regular season kicks off, the Detroit Lions' starting offensive line should feature Riley Reiff (LT), Laken Tomlinson (LG), Travis Swanson (C), Larry Warford (RG) and LaAdrian Waddle (RT) as the five starters. Should is the key word there, though. The Lions will need all of these players to be healthy for this projection to come true, and that's a big question mark with Waddle still recovering from knee surgery. The Lions will also need Tomlinson to quickly pick up the offense and be ready to be a starter as a rookie.

Clearly there are no guarantees here, as evidenced by what the Lions' starting offensive line looked like during Wednesday's practice (via The Oakland Press):

LT Riley Reiff
LG Manny Ramirez
C Travis Swanson
RG Taylor Boggs
RT Cornelius Lucas

Reiff and Swanson are the only starters here who are expected to be starters when the season opens. At left guard, for example, Ramirez is likely getting No. 1 reps right now simply because he's not a rookie. Back when the Lions drafted Warford, he actually began his career behind Dylan Gandy and Jake Scott before emerging as the full-time starter by the end of training camp. I would imagine Tomlinson will follow a similar path this summer.

At right guard, meanwhile, Boggs got No. 1 reps on Wednesday because Warford didn't take part in the team drills. Boggs was signed to a futures deal at the beginning of the offseason after making five appearances for the Chicago Bears over the last two seasons. He will return to a backup role once Warford is fully healthy, but I suppose this is a sign that Boggs is one of the top interior backups right now.

Finally, right tackle really comes down to Waddle's health. If he gets back to full health by the time the season starts, he should be the starter. If that doesn't happen, however, Lucas will presumably continue to be the starting right tackle.

All of this is basically just another sign that we still have a ways to go until the regular season. While it's nice to have some actual on-field news for a change, the Lions will almost certainly have a different starting offensive line than the one listed above when the season actually kicks off. In the meantime, I suppose getting reps for guys like Boggs and Lucas can't hurt, but both of those players should be in backup roles a few months from now as long as everybody is healthy.