FanPost

2018 Film Review: Is Frank Ragnow Destined for a Breakout?

One of the biggest questions facing the Detroit Lions in 2019 is the uncertainty on the offensive line. With TJ Lang now retired, the Lions have a hole on the right side of their line and they also appear poised to have a new center as well, with Frank Ragnow seeming to move to the middle and Graham Glasgow back to guard after 1.5 seasons at that position. This is pretty logical, given that Ragnow's natural position is at center, and that's what the Lions drafted him to do when he came out of Arkansas in the 2018 NFL Draft. Today, we're going to be focusing in on Ragnow in particular through an extensive examination of tape from his rookie season in Detroit. What are his strengths? Weaknesses? And what can we expect from him moving forward?

Who is Frank Ragnow?

First, our introduction to Ragnow. Ragnow is a 23 year-old offensive lineman from the University of Arkansas, who played four seasons at Arkansas, all of them as a contributor for the Hogs. That is pretty unusual for an offensive lineman at a power five program, where linemen often redshirt their first season and only start to get mixed in their second year. Ragnow played in nine games his freshman season, and then was an every-game starter his next three seasons, showcasing remarkable durability and he played both at guard and center. As a center in 2017, Ragnow received extremely high praise from Pro Football Focus for his efforts. This led Ragnow to get selected at 20th overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2018 NFL Draft.

The highlights from his first season:

Here's where we get to showcase where Ragnow demonstrated considerable potential in 2018. Let's start with week 3 against the Patriots, arguably the high point of a disappointing season for Detroit. After a bumpy first two weeks, Ragnow had a tremendous performance, both on the ground and in pass protection. Starting on the ground, he was the centerpiece on the OL for Kerryon Johnson's streak breaking 100+ yard performance. Here's our first play:

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=370

On this play, the Patriots have only three down linemen, with OLB Kyle Van Noy on the edge. As the line calls are set up, it is Ragnow's job to get to the second level, with center Graham Glasgow and right guard TJ Lang eating the two DT's. The hole is created behind Ragnow and it is his job to deliver the seal block against the linebacker Elandon Roberts. Watch how Ragnow gets up and meets Roberts forcefully at the point of contact, and then doesn't relent. Ragnow doesn't simply block, he turns into a bulldozer and shoves Roberts back 7 yards, from the 43 where they initially meet to where Ragnow tosses Roberts down like a ragdoll at the 36. His great effort has allowed the RB Johnson to get 9 yards.

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=394

This happens to be the very next play. This time Ragnow is matched up against the DT Malcom Brown. He gets a tiny bit of help off the snap from left tackle Taylor Decker, who initially double teams and then releases to get to the second level. That bit of help is all Ragnow needs, manhandling Brown and driving him back 4 yards and with Glasgow providing a solid block himself, a huge hole opens for Johnson to rumble for 12 yards. Those two plays combined were 21 yards for Johnson where Ragnow was both the lead blocker, but also doing the heavy lifting. On both plays, Johnson wasn't touched until he had already gotten 5 yards, and again, that was all running behind Ragnow against the Super Bowl Champions.

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=584

This might be the most fun Ragnow clip of the year, or at least one of them. Ragnow isn't doing all the heavy lifting here: that distinction is shared with Taylor Decker, as both left side linemen move their men backwards three full yards before Blount even reaches the line of scrimmage out of the backfield. Both guys create the hole that gives the Lions 5 on first down. That's nice and all, but we have plenty of clips of Ragnow moving people. What we don't have plenty of him doing is straight up ejecting dudes out of this solar system. That's what he did to Keionta Davis in this clip. Watch Ragnow engage Davis, shove him back, and then keep on going even though Blount is in the process of being tackled a few yards back. Ragnow doesn't just block. He f***ing pile drives. He isn't done blocking until the defensive player is flat on his back.

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=1058

Here he is on the first play of the second half, against Malcom Brown again. Ragnow meets the DT right at the LoS, with Glasgow to his right going to take on the LB. Ragnow meets Brown at the 25. He releases him at the 29. He doesn't move Brown, he paves him here. The hole for Kerryon is (in the words of Mickey Redmond) so big you could drive a Mack Truck through it, and Johnson isn't touched until he's tackled, 7 yards up field.

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=1357

How ‘bout a dive up the gut? Ole Frank can do that too. On a critical 3rd & 1, the Lions give it to Blount and he's running right behind Ragnow. The good news is that Ragnow explodes like a bullet off the line and while he goes down quickly, it's because he's literally flattened the DT like a steamroller and given Blount one of the easiest 3rd & 1 pickups he's ever had.

https://youtu.be/48V4Yzpdlv0?t=1770

This play, from the Lions' week 16 game against the Vikings is a quietly good one. Ragnow is asked to hit the second level after a small hole is opened up for Blount. Faced with a faster linebacker who tries to wiggle around him, Ragnow doesn't try to do too much, he smartly and gently guides the LB to clear a lane for Blount to go right through.

Now we turn to Ragnow's best game as a Lion: Week 6 against Miami

https://youtu.be/IhjK8Wtc3mA?t=54

The Lions are running good old fashioned power on this play, with Ragnow being asked to pull, meaning he will start on the left side of the formation and then move to the right and pick up whoever is in the hole, thus serving as the seal blocker. The Lions execute this play perfectly up to the point that Ragnow is pulling. He finds a hole so large that his massive 6'5", 308 lb. frame can saunter through it with no problem and he's asked to take out one linebacker on the block. If he does that, it's a big gain for Kerryon Johnson. Ragnow doesn't just do that, he massacres it, delivering a bone-crushing block so good that Stafford knows that Johnson is off to the races (see him celebrating in the background). The result? The Lions longest rush of the year, 71 yards.

https://youtu.be/IhjK8Wtc3mA?t=113

Didn't think that Ragnow could handle screens? You're wrong. While the Lions' offense was largely a roller coaster on slow developing screens in 2018, this one was a clear highlight. Stafford rolls to the right with Kerryon Johnson slipping out to the left side. The play asks the interior of the line, Lang/Glasgow/Ragnow to run up field and take out Dolphins defenders. Ragnow ends up having the most important task, as the Miami corner is in such a position that he could potentially blow up the whole play before it starts. Ragnow recognizes this just in time and effectively pummels the Dolphin, not just clearing room for Kerryon, but knocking the defender to his knees, totally erasing him from the play.

https://youtu.be/IhjK8Wtc3mA?t=141

Here's our second Frank Ragnow Says You Don't Belong On This Football Field clip. Matched up against the DT, Ragnow blows him back 2 yards off the LoS, which opens the hole up for Blount to get a huge gain. That's nice and all. But we're here to watch some mauling, so focus on big #77. Ragnow hammers him back 10 full yards before body slamming him to the ground. It doesn't even affect the play in any way, but it's the sign of a guy who gives 110% all the time. And I love it.

https://youtu.be/IhjK8Wtc3mA?t=158

This is the cherry on top, a TD for Blount where he waltzes untouched into the end zone. Guess who was the main driving force on this play? Frank Ragnow. Watch how Ragnow manhandles the DT and instead of driving him directly backwards, moves him to the left to open a huge hole for Blount, before he begins driving him back. With the big hole opened and a good lead block from the FB Bellore delivered, Blount gets the easy touchdown.

But it wasn't all easy for Ragnow

Ragnow's worst game of the season came against the Los Angeles Rams in early December. The bad news is that he got smoked all game long. The good news is that it came against not just the league's best DT, but arguably the league's best player: Aaron Donald. If you're gonna get your butt kicked repeatedly, might as well have it happen at the hands of a star. There are a lot of grim highlights from this game and we're going to show a few. The first:

https://youtu.be/yGnIkoJOR0Q?t=229

Many of Ragnow's worst moments in this game happened much like that, with him getting beaten on the first step by a hyper athletic guy, in this case Donald. It's not like Ragnow gets a particularly slow jump, it's just that Donald explodes off the line and Ragnow is not prepared for the speed and shiftiness with which Donald is coming. The big DT swims right by Ragnow on the opening jump and is immediately into the backfield for an easy TFL on Blount.

Here's another one:

https://youtu.be/yGnIkoJOR0Q?t=1325

Ragnow gets a better jump this time but still struggles with how quick Donald comes at him. The young offensive lineman stands up to try and adjust, getting caught flat footed as Donald blows right by him to the outside, turning the edge and getting a rush at Stafford, with Ragnow grasping to catch up, helping to lead to an inaccurate pass out of Stafford's hand.

One more Ragnow mistake from this game:

https://youtu.be/yGnIkoJOR0Q?t=522

This one shows the ups and downs that rookie linemen often have in learning all the plays, line calls, and the overall scheme, most of which are different, or at the very least more complex than what they had in college. Ragnow is asked to pull to the right side on this shovel pass and serve as the lead blocker for Ellington, the WR receiving the shovel pass. Ragnow gets off the line well and is in the right position, but he misses the man he's supposed to block, realizing only when it was too late- after Ellington has been brought down for a drive-ending loss of yardage. Forgetting who you're supposed to be looking for is a common rookie mistake and Ragnow certainly wasn't impervious from those.

Even in some of Ragnow's best games, like the one against New England, the occasional glaring mistake would pop up:

https://youtu.be/A3TzHRjoSiw?t=439

This doesn't end up costing the Lions at all thanks to the smooth running of Kerryon Johnson, but it nearly creates a disaster. Ragnow is asked to stretch to the left side of the field on this one and unlike the previous play, he knows who he's supposed to block. The issue is that he just straight up whiffs on a solid swim move from New England's defensive tackle. Nothing too sophisticated, and certainly not the dominant explosiveness of an Aaron Donald, but these are the types of small errors that Ragnow will need to iron out in year 2 for the Lions.

While Ragnow is an incredibly strong athlete, occasionally he would get hammered backwards on the strength of his opponent alone:

https://youtu.be/D5N2hxXNaFA?t=1009

Here Ragnow gets bullied right off the snap, knocking him back several yards and into where the play should be happening. Ideally, he would be a few yards up field, or the very least at the LoS. Instead he's in the backfield, where Blount is trying to find a lane between Ragnow and Decker. The lack of a lane makes Blount throw on the breaks and hesitate, quickly being wrapped up for a TFL.

So what does this mean for 2019?

After evaluating a huge amount of Ragnow's game film from his rookie year, I came away pretty optimistic about his future. While he did not grade out spectacularly by Pro Football Focus, whose grading metrics are useful but not perfect, they even mention that just two games, the Rams and also week 2 against the 49ers, dented his season grade significantly. Remove those two, and Ragnow was a top 25 guard in the NFL last season as a rookie. Of course, you can't toss out the bad games just because they were bad, but it simply shows that his overall play level was quite good, but it came with significant growing pains, as is often the case for rookie linemen. Now Ragnow appears poised to move back to center and that is a good thing for Detroit, at least to me. Center is Ragnow's more natural position and after a year to learn the scheme, he appears ready to make that move and could honestly be much better there, even at a harder position. It also allows Graham Glasgow to slide back to guard, where he was slightly better, at least in PFF's grading system (71.1 grade in 2017 vs. 68.2 grade in 2018).

At 22 years old, Ragnow is still rather young and has a lot of room to grow and get better. As this will be at a new position in the NFL, I don't expect him to be a superstar yet, but his flashes of potential are tantalizing. The Lions having two games of a 100+ yard rusher for the first time in 5 years was no coincidence: it was due to them finally having an explosive running back (Kerryon Johnson) and a young lineman who showed the ability to pave dudes in the ground game when he was playing at his best. The Lions were not always effective on the ground obviously, but when they were, it happened when they were running behind Frank Ragnow. Him and Johnson form two halves of the Lions' rushing attack and are a big reason for Lions fans to be excited for 2019.

** Did you enjoy this article? Comments, questions, other feedback is always accepted in the comments below!


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.