The litany of injuries Frank Ragnow dealt with during the 2023 season definitely shortened his career, to the point the Detroit Lions knew they'd have to replace their Pro Bowl center before they really wanted to.
But Ragnow returned for the 2024 season, dismissing retirement talk the first chance he had and doing it again in May of that year.
Heading into the 2025 offseason, the retirement buzz around Ragnow had subsided. But a signal the Lions showed early in offseason work became a full-blown siren sound when Ragnow suddenly announced his retirement in early June.
The Lions seemingly had an idea Ragnow was considering retirement, but they surely thought that ship had sailed when the calendar flipped to June.
With free agency and the draft in the books at that point, and trade options not exactly plentiful, the Lions were put behind an eight-ball they really never recovered from. The offensive line had no chance to perform anywhere close to its prior standard last season.
If we're looking for reasons the Lions struggled last season, being left with next to zero options to replace one of the best centers in the NFL is high on the list.
Ragnow attempted a comeback in November last season, but a failed physical ended that idea as quickly as it came about.
Frank Ragnow's reason for late retirement announcement is understandable, yet frustrating
At his annual skeet shooting event in the Detroit area, put on by his "Rags Remembered Foundation", Ragnow spoke publicly for the first time since retiring.
“To shoot it to you straight, I was trying to will myself to play. I was,” Ragnow said, via ESPN's Eric Woodyard. “And my body was telling me otherwise and I was just like in like paralysis, if you will. I did not plan on retiring in the middle of the 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 like I was uncomfortable and it’s one of those things where you have a couple kids, and I don’t want a sob story. I’m OK. I’m going to be completely fine and everything, But it’s one of those things like, I don’t know, is the juice worth the squeeze thing and to me ultimately it came down to that decision.”
Ragnow admitted feeling guilty, once he started watching games after retiring.
"I tried to avoid games, tried to distract myself from it. Then I started watching games, and I felt guilt. Like Jared getting hit, that’s my guy. Those are my guys, and they’re struggling.”
That guilt spurred Ragnow to attempt a comeback, which he called a "boneheaded decision". As he neared coming back he suffered what the Lions called a Grade 3 hamstring strain, which is a full rupture/tear of the muscle. He didn't realize it was so severe, due to his inexperience with soft tissue injuries.
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Ragnow, as some might say, is "tougher than a $2 steak." He proved it throughout his seven seasons as a Lion, and he's going into the team's Ring of Honor at some point.
But when his body wasn't bouncing back like he hoped it would after the 2024 season, Ragnow didn't have to wait until June to call it a career. He had to have known the "juice wasn't worth the squeeze" far enough before that to at least allow the Lions to invest better draft capital in someone who could've replaced him.
Ultimately the Lions wanted to, and were right to, give Ragnow all the time and space he needed to make a decision about his career. But they couldn't have expected him to take the amount of time he did before pulling the plug like he did a little over a year ago.
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