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The Detroit Lions continued to check off boxes of needs in free agency on Tuesday night. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Lions will be signing free agent guard Oday Aboushi:
Well-traveled OL Oday Aboushi will be making another stop. He's headed to the #Lions on a one-year deal worth up to $2m, source says. His fifth team in seven seasons.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 12, 2019
Aboushi is a six-year veteran (27 years old) who has played on four different teams previously. Most notably, he played one season with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017, under offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who, of course, is now the Lions’ offensive coordinator. That year, Aboushi started eight games at right guard, coming in as a replacement for the benched Mark Glowinski. He couldn’t finish out the year, however, as he dislocated his shoulder in Week 11.
Since then, he joined the Cardinals in the middle of the 2018 season and started six of the final eight games of the season for Arizona. He played well enough for the Cardinals to be interested in re-signing him, and he was also named PFF’s Secret Superstar of the team:
Oday Aboushi didn’t play his first snap until Week 10 but proved to be the Cardinals’ best pass blocker. From Week 10 on, Aboushi finished 18th amongst all guards in the NFL in pass-block grade at 77.8.
It’s unclear what this means for the Lions roster going forward. Aboushi is probably best served as a backup right guard, but after the Lions released T.J. Lang, they don’t have a starter for him to back up.
If the Lions don’t end up adding another free agent or spending a high draft pick on the position, Aboushi and Kenny Wiggins could battle out for the starting job. However, if the Lions do add another guard—or decide to try Tyrell Crosby as the starting right guard—this signing could put Wiggins’ job in jeopardy. The Lions could save an additional $3.125 million by releasing Wiggins.