When it comes to notable players retiring early with time left on their contract, the Detroit Lions have a well-known M.O.
It came to light again when news came they made retired center Frank Ragnow pay back part of his signing bonus. The criticism of the move was instant, ranging from a former teammate of Ragnow's to a notable former player who also played the center position at a high level.
When asked about the Ragnow situation at the NFL league meetings last week, Lions team president and CEO Rod Wood offered a lot of cold words.
“Our precedent goes all the way back to Barry Sanders,” Wood told the Detroit Free Press. “And if. . . . And I think the reality is, they’re not paying back their money, they’re returning our money. ‘Cause they were paid in advance for services that they hadn’t completed.”
Wood mentioned Sanders, and the Lions also did the signing bonus repayment stunt with Calvin Johnson when he retired early. Doing that to arguably the two best players in franchise history severed the team's relationship with them for years, until being repaired in both cases in recent years.
Doing it to Ragnow now, especially after he attempted to come back late last season before failing a physical, is an awful look. The Lions seem to be the only NFL team who wants signing bonus money repaid when a player retires with time left on his contract.
Wood might not care about optics, as he made abundantly clear in other comments at the league meetings. But most everyone else does, or should.
Detroit Lions' legend joins the party to criticize handing of recent situations
After the situation with Ragnow came to light, former Lions wide receiver Herman Moore authored a long tweet giving his thoughts on that and another recent situation, complete with a title-"Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should."
"Watching how things are playing out right now with Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker, I recognize that both sides are rightfully protecting their own interests."
"What I’ve never understood is how these player-team relationships that feel so aligned on the way in don’t carry through the same way when it’s time to leave."
Moore outlined how the player-team relationship has some give and take and push and pull, as injuries, contract matters and such enter the equation over years. Then the Lions' second all-time leading receiver brought up an element Wood is forgetting about as he nears retirement from his role.
"The business side is the business side. When money is asked back, that can be talked through and worked out. When that spills into the public space, it creates division, and don't think other players (or their representatives) don't see it."
"They remember it when it’s time for their own negotiation and contract discussions."
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The Lions' handling of the business side of things, when it comes to recapturing signing bonus money, is very memorable for fans. Beyond that, with the practice continuing whenever the situation arises, it's absolutely going to stick in the minds of current players, potential future players and the agents who represent them.
Ragnow is a notable case here, due to all the injuries he played through during his career. The Lions' organization then repaid him by asking him to repay some "unearned" money on the back end, as if he owed them something because he grew tired of his body being continually beat up.
Moore noted that too.
"When it comes to decisions like this, there’s room to make a different call. There are players who go above and beyond, who represent everything an organization says it stands for, who lay it on the line over and over again. And in those moments, a team has a choice. "It can follow the contract exactly as written or it can decide, based on what that player meant to the organization, that it’s good."
"That decision isn’t just about money, it's about what the organization wants to stand for, how it wants to be seen, and how it chooses to treat the people who helped build it. Because those decisions don’t stay isolated," Moore added. "They carry into the locker room, into future negotiations, and into how players view that organization moving forward. Sometimes the best decision isn’t the strict business decision, it's the one that reflects the standard of an organization."
The bad look of asking Ragnow to pay back a portion of his signing bonus will linger long after Wood, and his highly transactional nature, is gone from his post as Lions' president and CEO. It's not a stretch to say the bad PR could hamper the effort to fully pay off a competitive window the franchise has never had before.
Potential free agents can see cracks in a culture Dan Campbell professes and embodies, but is not always matched by some of those above him in the organization. Ragnow is now the symbol of that, and Moore has joined the loud chorus of critics.