Lions give their offensive line a closer look, trying out veteran guards Will Hernandez and Laken Tomlinson

The Detroit Lions held a workout session for two veteran offensive guards on Thursday, a move aimed at adding insurance and competition to a young-looking interior line as training camp evaluation continues. According to the daily NFL transaction wire as reported by Yahoo Sports, the tryout names were Will Hernandez and Laken Tomlinson.

Hernandez stands out in the Lions’ pitch for experience. The report characterizes him as a former Detroit first-round pick, a detail that matters because a player with that draft background typically brings familiarity with pro-level coaching expectations and a long runway for technique refinement at guard, even as roles can change from team to team.

Alongside Hernandez, the Lions also worked Tomlinson, another veteran guard. Tomlinson’s inclusion fits a common camp strategy, teams bring in established interior linemen late in the evaluation cycle to see whether fundamentals translate quickly. For a young offensive line, that kind of tryout can reveal how a player communicates pre-snap assignments and how reliably he anchors against inside pressure.

The context for Detroit is roster construction. The Lions have to balance continuity with flexibility, especially along the interior where guards must coordinate protection and run-blocking schemes while also adjusting to defensive fronts that shift throughout a game. Adding veteran reps in a tryout environment allows the coaching staff to compare those “known quantity” traits against what it has already seen from incumbent linemen during camp.

The Lions’ choice to work both Hernandez and Tomlinson in the same window also suggests an emphasis on depth and competition rather than a single-player focus. When two guards are evaluated back-to-back, it can streamline decisions about how many interior linemen the team will keep for the regular-season roster, and it can clarify which skill sets best fit Detroit’s run game and pass-protection needs.

It is important to note what the report does and does not say. A tryout does not automatically translate into a contract, and the transaction-wire reporting framework typically reflects workouts and other administrative notes rather than confirmed roster additions. Until there is an official team update, the most defensible takeaway is that Detroit spent a day looking at two veteran guards to inform its camp decisions.

Looking ahead, the key question for the Lions is whether either Hernandez or Tomlinson can separate themselves quickly in areas that often decide camp outcomes for linemen: pass-set discipline, quickness in lateral adjustments, hand-fighting efficiency at the point of attack, and reliability in run fits. Detroit will also continue shaping the interior depth chart as other roster evaluations progress.