Lions All-Pro Center Frank Ragnow Announces Head-Turning Retirement

The Detroit Lions will need a new center as Ragnow has called it a career.

Frank Ragnow of the Detroit Lions looks on prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., on Sep. 15, 2024. Nic Antaya/Getty Images

For Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow, he had almost everything going for him on the football field.

Ragnow, 29, has been a mainstay on the Lions offensive line since 2018 when the team drafted him. He has made second team All-Pro three times and the Pro Bowl four times in addition to the Lions’ recent success. Ragnow also has earned $57.48 million in seven years.

None of it was enough for Ragnow to keep playing amid the Lions’ ongoing Super Bowl aspirations. He officially announced his retirement on Monday via Instagram and cited health concerns as the reason.

“These past couple of months have been very trying as I’ve come to the realization that my football journey is ending and I’m officially retiring from the NFL,” Ragnow wrote on Instagram. “I’ve tried to convince myself that I’m feeling good but I’m not and it’s time to prioritize my health and my families future. I have given this team everything I have and I thought I had more to give, but the reality is I simply don’t.

“I have to listen to my body and this has been one of the hardest decisions of my life. The Lions organization has been absolutely incredible throughout this process and I can’t emphasize this enough how grateful I am for this team and all the fans,” Ragnow continued. “It was an absolute honor going to battle for you all.”

Ragnow started 100 games between the regular season and playoffs in Detroit. That started with his rookie year in 2018, when he started every game.

Detroit took him with the No. 20 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Arkansas. Ragnow played in 40 career games for the Razorbacks and received All-American honors twice.

The Victoria, Minnesota native previously emerged as one of the top linemen in the nation before his time at Arkansas. Ragnow was a two-sport athlete at Chanhassen High School in football and track and field.

While Ragnow played seven NFL seasons, he had his share of injuries along the way. His first significant injury—fractured throat cartilage in 2020—kept him from talking for a few weeks. However, things started going downhill for his health in 2021 when Ragnow sustained a plantar plate tear in his left foot during the season.

After just four games played that year, he returned in 2022 but re-aggravated the injury and sustained other injuries during that season, though he played 16 of 17 games. The future didn’t look promising in May 2023 when he told MLive.com that the toe had become “inoperable,” but he went on to play 15 of 17 games and another three in the playoffs despite multiple appearances on the injury reports and a surgery during the season.

Fresh off of an NFC Championship Game run, Ragnow played in 16 games for 2024, plus the Lions’ lone postseason game. Ragnow missed one game due to a partially torn pectoral muscle, and he sounded hopeful about his future on the field during that season.

“I still got some issues, but it’s not as—like the past few years, I’ve been able to get the job done, but I feel like I’ve been out there surviving, not really being able to really focus on the finish and focus on really attacking it, if that makes sense,” Ragnow told the Detroit Free Press in November 2024. “I was doing everything I can, but it was just surviving play to play and this year I’m in a good spot where I think I am able to kind of, I don’t know, get ahead of not surviving and kind of attacking, if that makes sense.”

Ragnow can now turn more of his attention to his family, which includes his wife, Lucy, and his son, J.B. The former Lions star is also an avid outdoorsman, and he has posted a half dozen catches on Instagram of late.

Detroit, meanwhile, will fish for Ragnow’s replacement at center, whether the player is on the roster or not. The Lions could go with veteran Graham Glasgow or recent second-round pick Tate Ratledge.

Otherwise, the Lions could make a move this offseason to find a starting center. Notable available free agents include Connor McGovern, Daniel Brunskill, and Nick Harris.