Grit. Violence. Market Inefficiencies. Christian Mahogany is the Ideal Detroit Lions Draft Pick
The Detroit Lions once again snagged a player who was falling in the draft after a serious injury, will it pay off?
The world came crashing down for Christian Mahogany during the summer of 2022. The highly touted guard was set to be a leader on a Boston College football team with a ton of potential. His draft stock was high, with some analysts expecting him to hear his name called in the first round in the following NFL Draft. There was not much standing between him and living out his dreams. A kid that once modeled his game after highly rated offensive lineman he found on Madden, such as Trent Williams, Orlando Pace and Zach Martin, was ready to join their ranks in future editions of the game.
And then, a freak injury during a pick-up basketball game derailed his career.
It took some time for the starlet offensive lineman and his friends to realize the severity of his injury. They called his mom, Francine Cerniglia, and helped him single-leg-hop to the backseat of a car. He’d later learn that he tore his ACL, a devastating knee injury that would cost him his 2022 season and put a dent in his draft stock.
“He was crying some days,” Cerniglia told the school’s student newspaper. “He took it hard.”
But Mahogany didn’t dwell on the injury. He got back to work, preparing for the 2023 season in the summer of 2022.
“There's always struggles that go with suffering an injury that threatens your livelihood,” Matthew Applebaum, Mahogany’s offensive line coach at Boston College, and former Miami Dolphins offensive line coach, told Bird’s Eye Football. “But I thought he did a great job handling it, and he was able to come back stronger than ever.”
Mahogany was a member of a huge turnaround for the Eagles in 2023. They finished with a winning season and won the hometown Fenway Bowl, turning around their fortune after going 3-9 in the previous campaign that Mahogany missed.
The big-bodied guard was the best run blocker on one of the nation’s elite rushing teams. Boston College ran for nearly 200 yards every game last year — leading the ACC and finishing ninth among Power 5 teams.
He didn’t miss a step in his return to football, hitting the ground running after a long 15 months on the sideline.
"I have to go back out there and show that I'm better than what I was," he told ESPN before the season.
Everyone around the guard credits two key traits for the success he’s had so far — and for why he might have success in the NFL — his loyalty, and the way he brings violence on the field.
"I was shocked… I didn't think he would still be there at that point.” Brad Holmes, general manager of the Detroit Lions, said in a press conference after selecting Mahogany in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The guard’s fall in the NFL draft was a surprising one. He was mocked as a late day 2, early day 3, pick by many analysts. But as the rounds continued to pass, the 23-year-old remained on the board. For much of day 3, he was featured as the “Best Prospect Available” on the board of a number of live draft trackers.
The reason for Mahogany's fall remains unclear. Holmes alluded during the conference that he knew something more than the public, but couldn’t reveal it.
What it could have been was injury concerns. Reports began to emerge after the draft that something in Mahogany's medicals seemed to have scared teams away. Brandon Thorn, an offensive line expert at the Substack Trench Warfare, said after the draft that there is something “concerning” that he was not aware of before the draft process.
How significant these medical issues could be still isn’t clear. But Mahogany has already shown once that he can come back from a devastating injury.
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