Detroit Lions OL Giovanni Manu signs an autograph after practice at team's Performance Center Mandi Wright / USA TODAY NETWORK

Detroit Lions Giovanni Manu Looking to Build Off Chargers Game

Originally posted on Detroit Lions on SI
By John Maakaron | Last updated Aug 4, 2025 9:02 AM ET

Detroit Lions offensive lineman Giovanni Manu has not had the best start to his second NFL training camp.

Opposing defensive linemen are winning reps against him at practice repeatedly, during both team periods and one-on-one battles, and his head coach indicated there were more things to critique than praise, through the first several training camp practices.

Just prior to the game against the Chargers, Manu put together a practice that was encouraging for Detroit's fifth-year head coach.

“Better. It was better, that’s the best way to say it," Campbell said," when asked to assess the play of the second-year lineman. "The beginning of camp has been probably more downs than ups and then the game was more encouraging. And actually, I will say this, I thought his last practice before the game was better. So I do feel an uptick here and now he’s just got to build off of that. Always gonna be things to work on, but it was better.”

After practice on Sunday, Detroit's 2024 fourth-round pick chose to focus on areas he needed to improve, as opposed to acknowledging praise from his coach.

"It may look like a nice performance to you guys, but there's always room for improvement," Manu told Lions OnSI. "For me, it's just looking at the mistakes I had in the last game and making sure that I don't repeat those in the next game. Obviously I want a team win, that was a pretty ugly way to go out. But for me, it's just fixing my mistakes in that game and making sure they don't appear in the next game. Just build off of that."

After working with Taylor Decker and other teammates this offseason, Manu is hoping to be in serious consideration in the team's tackle rotation behind the established starters.

"Yeah, I feel way more confident. The Chargers game was great," Manu said. "Going in, I felt confident. I told myself whenever I was gonna get called to go in, I was gonna seize every moment of it. I'm just gonna do the same thing this game and just build off of it."

At the start of training camp, Campbell spoke to the inconsistent play that has hindered Manu's overall development.

"He'll take two steps up and then one step back, and so that's kind of where he's at," Campbell explained. "He'll have a good day and then there's a couple of things that'll slide that we've got to keep working on with him. And he knows this.

"That's what he's got to do is learn from it, listen to what Hank's Fraley is telling him and Steve (Oliver) and those veterans and work on it, improve and just get better every day."

This article first appeared on Detroit Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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