Another day here at Pride of Detroit dot com, another Detroit Lions preview as we pick up steam toward the start of training camp. While it’s been an especially hot summer in the Detroit area, a general lull in other local teams has fans trying to appreciate these summer months despite eagerly anticipating the return of football.
Let’s take a look at the man in the middle of the best offensive line in the NFL: Frank Ragnow.
Expectations heading into 2023
At this point in Frank Ragnow’s career, we’ve come to understand what to expect out of the six-year veteran: unparalleled center play. From calling out protections and keeping Jared Goff upright to doing freaky stuff only a guy with his size and athleticism could do at the center position, Ragnow is a pro’s pro. Despite saddling himself with such high expectations, Ragnow is out there gutting it out through injuries—some inoperable—week after week and still meeting or exceeding those lofty expectations set forth.
Coming off his second Pro Bowl season, Ragnow had yet to be part of an NFL team with the kind of expectations the 2023 Detroit Lions had after their finish to the 2022 season—but the Lions center was embracing the challenge.
“Just to have that standard and being able to work—because it’s new for me, right? For us to be able to keep our heads down and focus day in and day out with that standard has just been a cool different challenge for me,” Ragnow said last August. “It’s been cool how this team really kind of hasn’t wavered—taking it day by day and just kept that freakin’ grit mentality the whole time.”
Actual role in 2023
Note: Stats are regular season only unless otherwise stated
15 games (15 starts)
PFF grade: 88.1 (first among 40 qualifying centers — minimum 232 snaps)
PFF pass blocking grade: 73.9 (sixth out of 40)
PFF run blocking grade: 90.1 (second out of 40)
Death, taxes, and Frank Ragnow playing up to standard; all you can count on in this country at this point. Remember him going toe-to-toe with the 347-pound Vita Vea after being rolled up on earlier in the game and spraining both his knee and ankle? And after that, remember him still doing this on a crucial fourth down?
4th and Goal? Lions are going for it.
— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2024
📺: #TBvsDET on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/frRD38ClOq pic.twitter.com/x9nVpCrGhP
It was such a performance that left tackle and fellow Lions-lifer Taylor Decker felt he needed to address in the locker room after the win over the Bucs.
“The dude’s just a warrior, man,” Decker said straightforwardly. “And he’s been through it. He’s been through it personally, he’s been through it with us as a team. The guy is a warrior, and there was never a doubt when he got banged up today that he was just going to keep playing and keep fighting. Because it seems like he’s always just fighting through pain. All the time.”
And nationally, folks started to notice Ragnow for being as tough as nails.
“We don’t have a toughness metric, but Frank Ragnow would be at the top,” Dan Pizzuta, contributor to 2024’s FTN Football Almanac, wrote about Detroit’s center. “He was only officially listed on the injury report three times in the regular season but played through knee, ankle, toe, and back injuries throughout the year.”
The Lions finished the 2022 season as the seventh-ranked offensive line in adjusted line yards (4.66) and followed it up by finishing as FTN’s top-ranked group in 2023 (4.77)—the mark of a team with the league’s best run blocking. Spearheading that effort in the run game was Ragnow, PFF’s second-best graded run blocker (90.1). Here’s Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs, a callback to that freaky stuff mentioned earlier in the article:
#OnePride v #ChiefsKingdom
— Tone (@ToneFromQueens) September 10, 2023
Offense is running a sweep right. Chiefs w/ 6 in the box.
I wanted to highlight the block that makes this play. Watch the @Lions Center, Frank Ragnow pull around to take on the Chiefs DE, George Karlaftis
Right off of his snap you see the center… pic.twitter.com/Xjs8SJLk0M
Week 14 was probably the low point for the Lions' season: a disgusting and disjointed performance in Chicago of all places. Detroit’s offense looked out of sync and lacked any sort of rhythm. Goff looked panicked, turning the ball over three times (two interceptions, one lost fumble) en route to a convincing defeat, 28-13. Despite being blitzed on just 28% of his dropbacks in that game, the Bears were able to generate 15 pressures—t-third most pressures allowed by Detroit in a regular season game last year. It also happened to be one of two games Ragnow missed in 2023.
Week 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders was the other game Ragnow missed, a contest where the Lions' offensive line allowed 14 total pressures, and nine of them came from the trio along the interior: Graham Glasgow, Colby Sorsdal (his first career start), and Kayode Awosika. Protecting the passer, Ragnow ranked t-ninth in the fewest pressures allowed among centers (18) according to PFF, and his presence was obviously felt when he missed time.
Outlook for 2024
Farewell, Jason Kelce. Au revoir! Enjoy retirement—the title for the NFL’s undisputed best center in the league will rest just fine over the shoulder of Frank Ragnow.
In all seriousness, there was at least a little concern that there may not have been a 2024 season for Ragnow after some comments he made after the team’s loss in the NFC Championship game.
“I need to find a way to get back to Frank and I don’t regret any of this at all, but it weighs on you,” Ragnow said. “And I’m just going to take some time and really figure everything out to make sure that I’m feeling good, not only for me the football player but for me to be the best husband and best father and everything with that as well.”
Ragnow would clear up any misinterpretation of his words from after the game and assure that his retirement wasn’t in question.
“I was frustrated,” Ragnow told the Detroit News during his charity event. “It was kind of annoying. All I said was I’m going to need some time to heal up the day after the game. That was my intention and then it took off, which was kind of annoying, but it is what it is.
“I feel really good. I feel as good as I’ve felt in a while,” Ragnow reassured. “This has been my best offseason, 100%. I really dove into a lot of things to take care of my body and I feel like I’m clicking right now. The goal is to keep it a steady trajectory into the season.”
The Lions' new approach towards managing Ragnow’s toe injury, thanks to the overhauled player health and performance department led by Brett Fischer, has Ragnow feeling as good as he has in some time. The expectations to be the best center in the NFL will be there for Ragnow as he enters his eighth season in Detroit, his team will have even higher expectations than they had a year ago, and there’s no doubt Ragnow will be the force that drives this offense to as far as it can go.
