The Detroit Lions suddenly face an offseason full of question marks after their only moves made after Frank Ragnow's retirement involved signing two iffy veteran options to compete for his old position.
However, Ragnow wasn't the first real domino to fall on the Lions' offensive line after the 2024 season. The biggest departure prior to that retirement was Kevin Zeitler's decision to sign with the Tennessee Titans this offseason, leaving to go protect rookie Cam Ward on their revamped O-line instead of re-signing with Detroit.
After starting 16 games for the team last year, he decided to walk after his one year stint with the Lions. He was a Pro Bowl alternate and one of the best offensive lineman on the Lions' roster, and could've been the perfect player to plug in at guard if the team decided to swap over one of Graham Glasgow, Trystan Colon, or Tate Ratledge to play at center.
The team was smart in drafting both Ratledge and Miles Frazier in this year's draft as a means of getting as many options as possible for replacing the hole at starter left by Zeitler, but in hindsight, keeping him would've made the most sense for them as Ragnow was set to depart the team and leave a second starting hole on the IOL.
Lions should have tried hard to re-sign Zeitler
Fans couldn't have been pleased to see Zeitler leave this offseason, especially after seeing how well he did filling in for another starter departing prior to the 2024 season, Jonah Jackson. It's not like Detroit didn't have the cap space to make something work with him, either - according to Over The Cap, the Lions have just over $40 million in cap space to work with as of now.
But, Detroit is always looking to make moves on the margins that pay off in dividends. Letting Zeitler walk was likely one of those moves as the team knew they could land a replacement to him somewhere in the draft or elsewhere in free agency. They also couldn't have predicted that Ragnow would retire.
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Zeitler's run blocking and pass protection would've been great to have now with some many question marks on the line with Glasgow and Ratledge. While he's up there in age like Glasgow, he proved to be a reliable option on the line despite it.