Looking back, it seems inexplicable that Frank Ragnow started his NFL career at left guard. He was smartly moved to center for his second season, and he has subsequently become one of the best (if not the best now, with Jason Kelce retired) centers in the NFL.
Outside of a very truncated 2021 season (four games), Ragnow has started at least 14 games every other season of his career. Since becoming a center in 2019, he has never allowed more than two sacks in a season or registered a Pro Football Focus run blocking grade below 78.2. Last year, despite a long list of injuries, he was PFF's top-graded center (88.8 overall grade) with the No. 1 running blocking grade at the position (91.3).
Ragnow is the literal centerpiece of the Lions' offensive line, and a critical cog in the offense. It's not a stretch to call him one of the most important players on the team.
ESPN continued to roll out their positional rankings with interior offensive lineman on Saturday (subscription required).
Ragnow comes in at No. 8, and as the No. 2 center behind Creed Humphrey of the Chiefs (who was No. 7 in the overall ranking).
Evaluators surveyed by ESPN see 'decline' in Frank Ragnow
A lead NFL scout surveyed by ESPN for the ranking had this to say about Ragnow.
"Would take others over him from a physical standpoint at this stage, but he's still one of our top 5-6 interior players at this stage," a lead scout with an NFL team said."
Along the same line that scout started with, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler summed up Ragnow like this.
"Ragnow has shown a slight decline in the eyes of evaluators, but he's still considered a blue-chip player. Ragnow is a premier communicator at the line of scrimmage, helping one of the NFL's best offenses get organized every down.”
We know about the ongoing management of the toe injury that cost Ragnow 13 games in 2021 and recurred early in 2022. We also know about the long list of injuries, some easy to tab as residual to that toe issue and some not, he dealt with last season. The 'slight decline' he has shown the evaluators ESPN surveyed becomes easier to explain with that injury docket in mind. And he was still better than most of his positional peers last year.
Injuries have surely shaved a few years off Ragnow's career. But he's lined up to be one of the best centers in the league right to the end, even if a "slight decline" physically continues.