Lions
Former Lions GM Bob Quinn had a strategy to build from the inside out and identified former Lions C Frank Ragnow as a potential centerpiece of that philosophy coming out of Arkansas.
“He was a guy, when I watched him in November, I knew I really liked him,” Quinn said, via SI’s Albert Breer. “Then he got hurt, no combine, no testing, but he was such a clean prospect. So after our combine interview, we didn’t have one point of contact with him. We tried to keep it as quiet as possible. … We knew he was a little under the radar because of the injury.”
Lions HC Dan Campbell said Ragnow struggled with his decision and was hoping to give the organization another year.
“The type of person that he is, he doesn’t want to let anybody down,” Campbell continues. “That’s why this was such a hard decision—it was for us and not for him. Trying to hold on, I’m going to play another year, he was thinking about us and not himself. He’s an unselfish human being. He’s an unselfish teammate. He’s salt of the earth.”
Campbell added that Ragnow is a staple in terms of what the organization has built and where they want to be.
“Frank’s always going to be a part of this,” Campbell says. “It’s hard when you put in the work and you don’t win. When a new coach comes in, you’re trying to get buy-in, [players] got to put on the blinders and got to trust. He was able to do that. He’s one of the reasons why we have our program to where we got it. We’ll be forever grateful to Frank for that.”
Packers
Packers K Brandon McManus has entered Green Bay as one of the team’s most experienced players in the NFL.
“A lot of these guys were in grade school or middle school when I was playing for Denver,” McManus said, via the team’s website. “Maybe they didn’t really know who I was, so … there’s always an added motivation every now and then to prove who you are.”
Packers ST coordinator Rich Bisaccia said that re-signing McManus was paramount to the importance of their unit.
“Keeping him, we think, is significant for us,” Bisaccia explained. “His consistency that he had last year, the leadership that he started to bring to us the more he was in our locker room … it’s good to know we have our kicker coming back in this year.”
McManus missed his first postseason field goal last year and admitted that he was upset when he went into GM Brian Gutekunst’s office for exit interviews.
“I forget about the whole season because it’s such an easy kick,” McManus said. “As the weather changes, it gets colder and a little windier. You can’t be a little lazy and not swing and still attack the ball because it’s a shorter field goal. I was extremely mad when I went into Gutey’s office and mad at myself because the best players have to play their best when the playoffs are around.”
Vikings
Sam Darnold signed with the Seahawks after an unceremonious end to his season as the Vikings’ quarterback, losing 27-9 to the Rams in the NFC Wild Card round. Darnold feels their offense “laid an egg” and feels like his final season in Minnesota was a failure despite his emergence as their starting quarterback.
“For lack of a better term, we laid an egg as an offense,” Darnold said, via Michael Silver of The Athletic. “And I think, for me personally, that sucks. I felt like we were a really good team, but at the end of the day — and this is gonna sound a little pessimistic — but when you get to the end of it and you don’t win the whole thing, you failed. I feel like I could have played way better, to be completely honest with you. I feel I didn’t play up to my standard. I truly feel that way. I feel like if I would have just played better, I would’ve been able to give the team a chance.”
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