Notes: Lions center Frank Ragnow back to normal after ‘survivor’s guilt’ of 2021

In today’s NFL, it’s not often that a team’s best player is their center. It isn’t the most heralded position, and it certainly isn’t one of the more glamorous. But make no mistake about it — All-Pro center Frank Ragnow is the best football player on the Detroit Lions.

He can do just about anything you can ask of a center in the modern day NFL. He is powerful in the run game, punishing defenders up until the whistle blows. He is an excellent pass protector, and as the center, is responsible for identifying changes in the defense pre-snap and making the necessary calls to the rest of the unit.

With all of that said, you begin to understand why it was such a massive blow when the Lions lost Ragnow to injury in Week 4 of the 2021 season. And as hard as it was for the Lions to try and operate as an offense without their starting center, it may have been equally as hard for Ragnow to be on the sideline, away from his teammates.

“Obviously last year was really, really, really frustrating. It’s really hard to explain not being out there,” Ragnow said on Tuesday per the Detroit Free Press. “It’s almost like survivor’s guilt. Your guys are all out there battling and you’re kind of stuck there, especially with a frickin’ toe. So it was very, very frustrating but I’m happy to be back. It feels normal again.”

At this point, most around the organization understand just how essential the offensive line is to the team’s success. Seeing all five starters play the majority of the 2022 season together would go a long way in ensuring the next step of the rebuild goes smoothly.

You can read the entirety of the article from Dave Birkett of the Free Press here.

And now, onto the rest of today’s notes:

• Speaking of Ragnow, he has a new episode of “Grizzly Man Outdoors,” in which he catches this monster:

• Now an elder statesmen on the defense, Tracy Walker is embracing the role of being a leader. Colton Pouncy has more on Walker’s role in his training camp observations.

• If you are in need of more Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid, Jack McKessy of The Draft Network has you covered with some silver linings for the 2022 season.

• This early in camp, everyone collectively holds their breath when someone goes down with an injury. In this instance, it appears the Lions may have caught a break. Justin Rogers of the Detroit News has more on how the Lions are dealing with injuries this early in August.

• NEW HARD KNOCKS CLIP!

• The group has been almost completely turned over in a year, but where does the Lions’ wide receiver corps rank among the NFL’s best units? Jeff Risdon of the Lions Wire takes a look at where two outlets ranked the group.

• Rookie defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has some new merch available and it’s for a good cause.