Prior to his retirement announcement, many wondered if Detroit Lions great Frank Ragnow was holding out for a new contract.
Ragnow wasn't present at the team's voluntary OTAs as he entered the second-to-last year of his contract. There was no indication he would retire, which led many to believe he might be looking for a new deal.
However, that turned out not to be the case and instead Ragnow was contemplating his future in the NFL. Of course, he ultimately decided to hang up his cleats.
For the first time since Ragnow's retirement, head coach Dan Campbell touched on the issue. He heaped well-deserved praise on Ragnow while also noting that any talk of Ragnow's absence being contract-related was "disrespectful."
"Unbelievable teammate, football player, man of the community. Man, he's done it all and he will be sorely missed," Campbell said. "He'll be missed but, man, this train rolls on and it's the next man up. So, we will be ready to go when camp hits."
"I got all the respect for Frank Ragnow, I love him to death, and the other thing is, quite frankly, some of this stuff about contract talk, that's disrespectful. That's not what this was ever about. Anyway, love you, Frank, appreciate you."
As far as replacing Ragnow is concerned, Campbell made it clear he's confident in the guys the Lions have brought in, both in the draft and free agency.
"We've got plenty of versatility out there. We like the guys that we drafted, we like our free agents that we brought in, the young guys," Campbell said.
Right now, it looks like the Lions have two early front-runners to replace Ragnow in Graham Glasgow and second-round pick Tate Ratledge, both of whom have been getting reps at center during voluntary workouts.
Glasgow offers the more experienced option, as he's played over 2,600 snaps at center during his career, including nearly 250 in Detroit. Meanwhile, Ratledge played all of his starting Georgia snaps at guard.
We tend to believe the Lions will roll with the more experienced option in Glasgow, but there's plenty of time to sort that out. Whoever loses between Glasgow and Ratledge will likely settle in at right guard.
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