Detroit Lions Podcast: Ragnow retirement and the O-line reckoning

High Bar, Hard Truths

The Detroit Lions walked into this NFL season with Super Bowl talk and a sky-high bar set by a 15-2 run the year before. The expectation was simple. When games tightened, they would flip the switch and bury teams. That switch never clicked. The Detroit Lions Podcast crew gathered for a season-ending roundtable and traced the arc from hype to hard lessons. The story centered on an offense that lost its core and never rediscovered rhythm.

Drives stalled. Third downs piled up. The run game sputtered. Defensive injuries compounded the strain. The offense, once the engine, could not carry the load. The panel’s verdict was blunt. This team was not as good as many thought, and the gap revealed itself week after week.

The Frank Ragnow Pivot

The season turned when Frank Ragnow retired. That single move gutted the middle of the offensive line and forced a cascade of fixes that never stuck. A rookie guard stepped in on one side and, effectively, a rookie guard on the other. Taylor Decker battled through at left tackle. Penei Sewell carried as much as a right tackle can carry. The line could not clear lanes with consistency. It could not protect the structure of the offense on schedule. In the NFL, that is the most punishing failure.

The consequences touched everything. Running the football lost bite. Third down kept getting longer. The offense chased instead of dictated. What last year’s group masked, this year’s group magnified. The Lions did not have an adequate answer once the center spot changed overnight.

Offseason Questions Along the Line

Every key question points back to the trenches. Who is the left tackle going to be? Who is the center going to be? Do the Lions move a guard to center and then replace that guard? Those choices will define the first steps toward 2025 and beyond. The conversation stretches to the skill group as well. What happens with David Montgomery? What does recovery look like for Sam Laporta, with a herniated disc raising real concern?

Reset the line, and the rest can recalibrate. Fail to solve the core, and the same problems return. That was the consensus thread throughout the roundtable.

2025 and 2026 Outlook

The room looked forward, and the tone was measured. There was even a note that 2026 feels better than 2025 right now. That tracks with the scale of the rebuild needed up front. The Detroit Lions must restore the center position, stabilize guard, and decide on left tackle. Do that, and the identity that once made them dangerous returns. The Detroit Lions Podcast closed on a simple truth. Fix the offensive line, and the offense regains its engine. Miss, and we are back here again talking about what might have been.

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