Brad Holmes felt the Lions "did the best we could" to guard against the retirement of Frank Ragnow last offseason "with everything that we were trying to do from a roster standpoint." The simple truth is, "You haven’t seen a Frank Ragnow," said Holmes, "since Frank Ragnow."
And you probably won't see him again. After Ragnow's comeback attempt was aborted this season by a failed physical, "we just kind of went our separate ways," Holmes said Thursday. The two sides have not been in communication since.
"I’m sure a lot of the guys still keep contact with him. But no, nothing concrete about seeing if he wants to give it a go again," said Holmes.
Center remains the biggest question mark on the Lions' roster looking into 2026. Graham Glasgow is unlikely to be back, Tate Ratledge is much more comfortable at right guard, the only position he's ever played, and none of the Lions' other internal options inspire any confidence.
It's a position that Holmes must upgrade this offseason, ideally with a veteran. The execution and communication was lacking on the interior of the Lions' once-vaunted offensive line for much of the season, short-circuiting their ability to pound the ball and protect Jared Goff, who took a career-high 38 sacks. Asked about the plan at center, Holmes admitted, "We don't have all the answers right now."
"And if we did have all the answers right now, you should actually be concerned because we have not taken the necessary time to do the deep-dive analysis into our roster, our operations, everything from top to bottom like we are going to do," he said. "There’s some infancy stages, things that we’ve already started to look at, that we’ll just keep to ourselves."
Holmes said that Ratledge remains a candidate for the job, but it's in the best interest of all parties to keep Ratledge at his preferred position where he has Pro Bowl potential. More realistically, said Holmes, "we’re definitely going to have to continue to look for one, whether it be free agency or the draft or a trade."
The best center slated to hit free agency is Tyler Linderbaum of the Ravens, but Baltimore will likely extend him before he gets there. Other pending free agents at the position include Connor McGovern of the Bills, Cade Mays of the Panthers and Luke Fortner of the Saints. The Lions could also look to fill the void early in the draft, but inserting a rookie into a job that's as demanding mentally as physically would come with considerable risk. Not even Ragnow played center as a rookie.
Complicating matters, the Lions could have another hole at left tackle if Taylor Decker opts to retire, again without a suitable internal replacement. Holmes referenced recent draft picks like Ratledge, fifth-rounder Miles Frazier, 2024 fourth-rounder Giovani Manu and 2024 sixth-rounder Christian Mahogany as proof that the offensive line "hasn't been ignored."
"You’d be surprised about the moves that we tried to do that we could not get done that involved offensive linemen, whether that be draft or free agency. ... But just the offensive line as a whole, whether it’s the interiors or the tackle, that's something that we're continuously going to have to be urgent in terms of adding to," said Holmes.
Now more than ever.