Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow, a four-time Pro Bowl selection in his seven NFL seasons, announced his retirement on social media Monday.
“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 posted to 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. It was an absolute honor going to battle for you all.”
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Ragnow battled through multiple injuries throughout his career. In 2021, following a season in which he played with a fractured throat, general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell made him the league’s highest-paid center at the time with a $54 million, four-year extension.
The 29-year-old Ragnow played 16 games last season, missing only the team’s Week 4 game vs. Seattle with a partially torn pectoral muscle. He didn’t miss a start afterward and was named to the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive season.
He entered the NFL as a first-round draft pick by the Lions in 2018, earning second-team All-Pro honors in 2020, 2023 and 2024. He received his first Pro Bowl nod in 2020 under then-coach Matt Patricia, and he played 96 career games — all starts.
Rookie Tate Ratledge, a second-round pick out of Georgia, is the most likely replacement for Ragnow. Ratledge, 24, played guard in college but has been taking the first-team reps at center for the Lions during OTAs.
Ragnow has had a history with serious toe injuries, missing 13 games in 2021 with what he called “the most severe degree of turf toe” and then had a separate injury to the same toe early in the 2022 season and played through it in what he called one of the toughest years of his career.
In 2023, he told the Detroit Free Press that the toe injury had gotten to a point where surgery wouldn’t help, and it was just something he was going to have to navigate for the rest of his career.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
