Hank Fraley has heard it before, and knows how it goes: The Lions' offensive line could be the NFL's best, if it stays healthy. So here we go again.
"You can’t hide from it because the media’s everywhere, or friends and family say stuff, but it’s up to us," Detroit's O-line coach said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "I tell the guys, 'If you want them to write something and you want it to be good, you gotta go out there and perform. Who cares what they write about (us now)? We gotta perform."
Hopes are high for the Lions, in no small part because of the big men they boast up front. From left to right, Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Penei Sewell can indeed be a force. Of course, the group has never played a regular season snap together. Vaitai missed all of last season with a back injury, while Ragnow missed most of 2022 with a toe injury, the same year that Decker missed the first half of the season with a finger injury.
"For me, having been here, every season it’s, ‘Look at the projected line and what it could be,'" said Decker, the Lions' longest-tenured player. "It’s never happened. Ultimately the potential on paper, as with the entire team and the expectations, it doesn’t mean anything right now."
"Yeah, I feel like we’ve said that the past three years," said Ragnow. "Just gotta hope we get through training camp as healthy as possible. It always seems like it catches up to us. Man, if we can keep it going, I think it can be pretty good."
"Lord knows what happens if we roll out Week 1, everybody’s healthy and ready to go," said Jackson. "I’m excited for it.”
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Week 1 remains four weeks away. And there's still a job to be won between Vaitai and Graham Glasgow at right guard. Fraley praised Vaitai's showing in Tuesday's joint practice against the Giants and said "Big V is playing very well this year. He’s come back and looks healthy." Fraley also sees a worthy vet in Glasgow, who's versatile enough to play either guard or center: "He’s a starter in this league, so it gives you another guy you can count on that’s played at a high level. The competition’s on."
Health willing, the rest of the line is set in stone. Decker is one of the most polished tackles in the NFL, Jackson is a Pro Bowl guard with a payday in the offing, Ragnow is a Pro Bowl center with a payday in the bank, and Sewell is a Pro Bowl tackle opposite Decker. Jackson said that "playing beside Deck and Frank is just like peanut butter and jelly: We go perfect together." (Fraley, in this case, is Honey Buns, the nicknamed he earned when he was pestered by a bee during a long-ago team photo with the Eagles, proof to his teammates that there was honey oozing from his pores. Something about offensive linemen and food.)
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"Our unit can be sound and we can be great," Fraley said. "Let’s just keep our nose down. Keep gritty, doesn’t have to look pretty. Let’s be mean, tough and cover the ball. I think that’s an art that’s lost in this game a little bit, is linemen downfield 15, 20 yards. I tell 'em to just get down there and bump the DB. Let him know, 'Hey, if that whistle didn’t blow already, I’m here.'"
Even with a hobbled Ragnow and no Vaitai last season, the Lions' O-line led the way for an offense that finished fourth in the NFL. And it paved the way for a rushing attack that put up 2,000-plus yards and 4.5-plus yards per carry for the first time since Detroit's running back was named Barry. Not satisfied, the Lions upgraded their backfield this offseason by swapping out Jamaal Williams and D'Andre Swift for David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. The early returns are promising.
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"The burst that 26 has, he can frickin’ go," Fraley said of Gibbs. "It’s amazing just watching him, early on with no pads on, even in OTA’s, it was like, Wow, some of the cut-backs and roll-backs. That vision is there. His patience but speed through the hole is really good."
Gibbs is one of the first-class cars on the Lions' Hype Train, as Dan Campbell has dubbed it. He's fast and sleek and slices through traffic. And Campbell, whether he means to be or not, is the conductor. But this train would still be stuck in the station if not for the men in the trenches, who are ready to wipe their brows and go back to work.
"We’re just shoveling the coal, man," said Fraley. "We’re shoveling the coal. If there is a train, we’re down there in that engine room, just working, sweating and grinding."
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