Jeff Risdon

2 weeks ago | lionswire.usatoday.com | Jeff Risdon

Frank Ragnow's retirement throws a curveball into the Detroit Lions offensive line plans for 2025. The second-team All-Pro center hung up his cleats this week, leaving the Lions with a hole in the middle of the vaunted O-line. Detroit has several options to fill that hole. None are proven to be close to Ragnow's caliber, of course, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell brought up a similar situation and an ultimately successful story from a prior coaching stop.

3 weeks ago | lionswire.usatoday.com | Jeff Risdon

The NFL has released the official league calendar of key dates for the coming season. There are quite a few that are pertinent for the Detroit Lions as the team heads into its late-spring hiatus. The Lions didn't use the franchise or transition tags on any free agents in 2025, so this doesn't really apply to Detroit. Teams are allowed to begin training camp 47 days prior to the date of their first regular-season game.

3 weeks ago | lionswire.usatoday.com | Jeff Risdon

Ennis Rakestraw didn't see the field much as a Detroit Lions rookie cornerback in 2024. A combination of injuries and the lack of a defined role in the Detroit defense kept the second-rounder in learning mode more than playing mode in his first season. In Year 2, Rakestraw has a chance to earn more reps and get them in a more specifically defined role. Rakestraw, now wearing No. 9, is strictly an outside cornerback in 2025 after boucning between the slot and outside as a rookie.

3 weeks ago | draftwire.usatoday.com | Jeff Risdon

The too-early mock drafts and preseason ratings for the 2026 NFL Draft feature a common theme: a lot of quarterbacks going very highly. A quick look at a sampling of mock drafts shows a few constant QB presences being projected quite highly at this early juncture. The Mock Draftable consensus big board, which aggregates rankings to form a conglomerate big board, reflects that. Five of the top 10 players on their consensus big board are quarterbacks, led by Arch Manning from Texas.

3 weeks ago | lionswire.usatoday.com | Jeff Risdon

It's apparently going to be some time before linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez returns to action. Lions head coach Dan Campbell offered a "conservative" timeline for Rodriguez's return to action from a torn ACL suffered late last season. Rodriguez, a key reserve LB and special teams fixture, tore the ACL in his knee on November 28th in the Thanksgiving win over the Chicago Bears. He has been away from the team during the recent OTAs rehabbing from the surgery.