The 2025 season may go down as the most disappointing in the history of the Detroit Lions organization.
The Lions had Super Bowl aspirations coming off a 15-win season only to go 9-8 and miss the playoffs entirely. In a season where the NFL looks as wide open as ever, they’ll be watching the postseason from home.
And while you could point to a number of differences between last year’s season and this one when trying to pinpoint where it all went wrong, arguably the biggest reason for Detroit’s decline came up front.
The Lions’ offensive line sank from the class of the NFL in 2024 to being flat out not good enough in 2025, and it wound up derailing the season.
Before the year started, All-Pro center Frank Ragnow shocked the NFL with his retirement in June after eight seasons. Ragnow was arguably the Lions’ most impactful player on offense, and his absence was felt early and often. So much so that he even tried to come out of retirement during the season but it fell through.
The loss of Ragnow and his otherworldly ability to block nose tackles without any help made things much harder on Detroit’s young guard duo of second-year Christian Mahogany and rookie Tate Ratledge. Throw in a year where the star tackle duo of Penei Sewell and Taylor Decker dealt with injuries, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Detroit didn’t fare all too bad in the broad counting stats by season’s end, but anyone who watched knew this wasn’t the same elite offense that took the NFL by storm a year before. The Lions finished 12th in the NFL in rushing yards per game after ranking sixth in that category last year.
And the Lions estimated points added per rush went from seventh in the NFL at 0.02 in 2024 to 25th at -0.06 this season. The team also struggled to protect quarterback Jared Goff, who took a career high 38 sacks.
Detroit’s skill position group of Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta that put up such gaudy numbers last year is still intact. They just need the offensive line to be that engine again, and need to take the necessary steps to ensure that this offseason.
That could be a bit harder this offseason with two more Lion offensive linemen mulling their playing futures. An emotional Decker admitted after the Bears game that he’s thought about his future throughout this season, after a frustrating, pain-filled year that demanded near around-the-clock medical attention and required immense sacrifice.
“It asked a lot of my wife,” Decker said, briefly choking up. “And it was selfish of me, but it was what was required to fulfill the expectations of my job. If that’s what my future is going to be to continue to play—that’s not something I’m willing to do. Because I’m not willing to put my family through it.”
Decker is the longest-tenured Lion and one of their biggest leaders, having been with the team since 2016. He’ll be 33 by the time next season starts. Head coach Dan Campbell said Decker will meet with him and general manager Brad Holmes in the coming days, but added that Decker will need some time to decide his future.
If Decker doesn’t retire, there’s a chance the Lions cut him to save nearly $12 million in cap space. He’s been dealing with a nagging shoulder injury for years and his play declined over the second half of 2025.
Glasgow could also be on his way out, as he’ll be 34 come next season and has also been in the NFL since 2016, spending seven of those years in Detroit. It leaves the Lions with some more decisions to make on the offensive line.
A year after Ragnow’s retirement blindsided the organization and left them without a clear plan at center, Campbell said the team has “learned lessons there” about how to navigate those retirements. The Lions will likely have to address both the interior and the tackle spot this offseason in some form.
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Detroit has the 17th overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, and it’s hard not to imagine them choosing to address the offensive line there. If they do, Miami’s Francis Mauioga, Utah’s Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor and Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane could be possible options in the first round.
The Lions could also go in a different direction round one and decide to address the trenches on day two. Holmes also may opt to bring in a veteran free agent, similar to his one-year signing of guard Kevin Zeitler in 2024 that worked out quite well. If he does that, then right tackle Jermaine Eluemenor, center Tyler Linderbaum and left tackle Rasheed Walker could be in play as big-ticket options.
Detroit will also continue to bank on growth from Ratledge and Mahogany, who both showed good flashes in 2025, albeit along with some growing pains. They look like prospective starters.
The offensive line is the key to everything Detroit wants to do on offense, and its decline was arguably the biggest reason for the Lions’ disappointing 2025, even including the departure of offensive whiz Ben Johnson. Winning the trenches is a point of pride for this team, and when they aren’t doing that, the whole operation is thrown off.
This is a critical, perhaps era-defining offseason of Lions football. Getting things right up front should be the top priority.
“I want to get back to some of the things we were doing a couple years ago,” Campbell said. “And what I mean by that is getting back to a little bit more of what we did at the ground level. Just a little bit of the way we train, the way we go about things. It’s going to be a good training camp for us, we’re going to go back and really sharpen the sword a little bit.”