Lions Sign G Ben Bartch

Bartch comes over from San Francisco, where he began last season as a Week 1 starter. Injuries sidetracked Bartch last season, and he joins a Lions team returning two guard starters. But the six-year veteran has 24 career starts and represents an interesting interior swingman behind Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany.

This marks a third notable interior O-line investment from the Lions in free agency. The team signed ex-Panthers center Cade Mays and added former Texans starter/swingman Juice Scruggs in the David Montgomery trade. Scruggs and Bartch could profile as higher-end depth for a team that dealt with injuries along the interior following Frank Ragnow‘s retirement (and failed unretirement).

Bartch won the 49ers’ left guard job out of training camp, lining up alongside Trent Williams to open last season. A high ankle sprain sustained in Week 2 ended the ex-Jaguar’s run in Kyle Shanahan‘s lineup. Although the 49ers used an IR activation on Bartch, he did not start another game upon returning. A foot sprain then sent the former fourth-round pick back to IR and ended his season.

Spending the previous two 49ers seasons as a backup, Bartch earned a promotion after the team let three-season LG starter Aaron Banks walk (to the Packers) in free agency. The 49ers initially signed Bartch off the Jaguars’ practice squad in November 2023. He made two starts in 2024 but missed time because of a high ankle sprain that season as well. The Jags used Bartch as a 16-game starter from 2021-22, but a dislocated knee blunted his momentum five games into the ’22 season. Jacksonville then acquired replacement Ezra Cleveland at that year’s trade deadline.

Pro Football Focus has graded Bartch well in each of the past two years, but he did not play enough to qualify as a regular in either campaign. PFF nevertheless slotted Bartch inside the top 20 at the position during a 200-snap 2025 slate. He did not grade as well with the Jaguars as a full-timer, ranking 52nd at the position in 2021 — his only season with more than five starts. The Lions will provide another opportunity for the seventh-year vet, who will attempt to bounce back from his latest injury-altered season.