A little over a year ago, Detroit Lions Pro Bowl center\u00a0Frank Ragnow\u00a0announced his abrupt retirement, which precipitated the Motor City’s offensive line breakdown of 2025. The veteran\u00a0attempted\u00a0a comeback bid midway through the season, but ultimately\u00a0a failed physical\u00a0scuttled those plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to reporters at his charity event in Michigan for the first time since the failed comeback, Ragnow opened up about the realities of what he went through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I was just trying to will myself to play,” Ragnow said Friday,\u00a0via Colton Pouncy of The Athletic. “I was, and my body was telling me otherwise. I was just, like, in paralysis, if you will. I did not plan on retiring in the middle of summer, believe it or not. It was like — I was trying to get, like, ‘You can do it for the guys, for the fans. It’s who you are.’ But it’s just \u2026 like, I was uncomfortable. And it’s one of those things where you have a couple of kids — and I don’t want a sob story, I’m okay, I’m going to be completely fine — but it’s one of those \u2026 ‘Is the juice worth the squeeze?’ things.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To me, ultimately, it came down to that decision. And obviously, I struggled with that decision, too.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ragnow started 96 games for the Lions over seven seasons after being drafted in the first round in 2018. He earned four Pro Bowls and was named second-team All-Pro in each of his final two campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Lions’ offensive line struggling last season to replace the star center, Ragnow briefly attempted to come back, but it never got off the ground, with a Grade 3 hamstring strain scuttling the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ragnow noted that the injury forced him to listen to his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You see the guys — and I tried to avoid games, tried to distract myself from it,” he said. “Then I started watching games, and I felt guilt. Like\u00a0Jared (Goff)\u00a0getting hit — that’s my guy. Those are my guys, and they’re struggling. And then I made a bonehead decision and tried to get ready to play, got hurt, and \u2026 that was tough. That was really tough. But you know, everything happens for a reason, and I am where I am now.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ragnow’s retirement set into motion the Lions’ revamped offensive line in 2026. Detroit signed center\u00a0Cade Mays\u00a0in free agency,\u00a0moved\u00a0Penei Sewell\u00a0to left tackle to replace\u00a0Taylor Decker\u00a0who was\u00a0released, and drafted right tackle\u00a0Blake Miller\u00a0in the first round. The Lions hope the moves and improved seasons from young guards\u00a0Tate Ratledge\u00a0and\u00a0Christian Mahogany\u00a0can help get the O-line back to where it was in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A little over a year ago, Detroit Lions Pro Bowl center\u00a0Frank Ragnow\u00a0announced his abrupt retirement, which precipitated the Motor City’s offensive line breakdown of 2025. The veteran\u00a0attempted\u00a0a comeback bid midway through the season, but ultimately\u00a0a failed physical\u00a0scuttled those plans. Speaking to reporters at his charity event in Michigan for the first time since the failed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416316,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416315\/revisions\/416316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}