Pressers and scrums: Fraley on Ragnow, Gibbs' growth as a receiver, lofty comp for Jack Campbell and more

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Allen Park — Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, receivers coach and assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery and offensive line coach and run game coordinator Hank Fraley met with the media on Wednesday. Here are the highlights from those sessions.

Still gas in the Frank, er, tank

It feels like a fevered dream. One minute, Frank Ragnow was shockingly coming out of retirement to revive a struggling offensive line; the next minute, he was heading back to Minnesota after he failed his physical due to a severe hamstring injury.

We never even got to say hello, let alone goodbye.

Part of being in the NFL is rolling with the punches. The reason the next-man-up philosophy is hammered home in every locker room is that injuries are as much a part of the game as the forward pass.

Still, you’d think there might be a different caliber of emotional whiplash tied to Ragnow’s situation. Regardless, his longtime position coach, Hank Fraley, has taken it in stride like any other curveball that might be thrown his way during the season.

“I’m not disappointed at all, it’s just circumstances, you know?” Fraley said. “…Definitely a fan of Ragnow. Loved him when he was here, loved him when he played. He definitely has plenty in him to still play. Unfortunately, he got a little nicked up in his training. He’s been training the whole time, but unfortunately, it didn’t go that route.

“It’s just unfortunately he had that — what was it, a grade three (strain), or whatever it turned out to be? He just thought it was a little tweak, so that’s how tough he was, and that’s how tough he was when he played here. We had to pull him back a lot of times, like ‘Hey, we’re sitting you out to get you better.’ But love the guy. The guys in this room, in this building, love him. The fan base, of course, loves him. I’m happy for him, too. He’s just being a dad, enjoying life out there, and a lot of deer hunting.”

But what was that about still having plenty left in the tank? Now that the door opened back up, even just a crack, is Fraley prepared to lobby for Ragnow’s return in 2026?

Don’t count on it.

“I really haven’t talked to him since then,” Fraley said. “That would be on him. You’d have to ask him. …I know Frank’s mentality. If he’s all in, he’s in, and if he’s out, he’s out. So I wish him and his wife the best out there in Minnesota. We’ll always be friends and like family.”

Branch has surgery

A friendly reminder for all readers, there’s a regularly updated injury file with the latest information on all of the team’s ailments. Feel free to bookmark it.

New today on that front were updates on safety Brian Branch and tight end Shane Zyltra.

Branch, who was lost for the season with an Achilles’ injury, has undergone surgery.

“He’s had it repaired and it sounds like everything went well,” Campbell said. “So, they’re always going to give you the 8-12 months (timetable) or whatever that is from the time of the surgery. But the surgery went well. Everything went well.”

As for Zylstra, he had his practice clock started last week after a couple of months on injured reserve. But after being limited on Monday, he sat out the next two days, raising concerns that he suffered some sort of setback.

As it turns out, that was always the reacclimation plan, and there’s a chance he plays this week against the Rams.

“That was normal, what we were doing,” Campbell said. “That’s what we wanted to do last week. He didn’t miss any time. It was kind of how we had it planned. So, he was out there at walk through, we’re going to have him out at practice today, and we’d love to have him at the game barring no setbacks. We’ll see where he goes here.”

Dinner can wait

Amon-Ra St. Brown’s status for last Thursday’s game went down to the wire. Montgomery wasn’t sure if he’d have his star pupil against Dallas, and still wasn’t convinced on Wednesday, but the position coach offered some insight into the week’s unique preparation.

“I’ll tell you how devoted he is,” Montgomery said. “It is kind of crazy. The day before the game, he was at dinner with his girlfriend, Brooklyn. I’m on FaceTime with him, going through the plays as it may change. He’s at dinner, not at home. I felt bad. He kind of had the phone close to his face, so I couldn’t see him. Then he kind of backed up a little bit, then I realized (and said), ‘Oh, my God. I’m coaching this guy at dinner.’ We went through the plan and how it may change, him moving positions, other guys moving positions. That’s the other piece to it, the other layers to it, is when he does come back into the fold, now you’ve got to kind of move people around.”

Montgomery said offensive assistant Bruce Gradkowski had an extra busy week drawing up different variations of the plays for if St. Brown could or couldn’t go.

“He’s probably still upset with me on Tuesday or Wednesday, but he got it done.”

St. Brown not only ended up playing, but was on the field for more than 90% of the snaps, delivering six catches for 92 yards in the win.

“He made it very clear to me on Wednesday, ‘Hey, it’s all or nothing. I’m either out there for every play (or nothing),’” Montgomery shared. “…We don’t talk about him enough, but I don’t have anything else to say about him because he’s consistently the same all the time.”

Another unusual rookie

Miles Frazier went from an injured Day 3 draft pick who missed six months of practice to seeing playing time in his second game. That’s a little out of the norm, right?

“I think that’s unusual,” Campbell acknowledged. “It’s not always easy to do. It’s hard, especially when you’re in the boat that they’re in. When you don’t get any training camp, and you’ve only gotten limited practices, I mean, that’s not easy to do. But it’s where we’re at. We need to get a look, and we need a little help, so let’s throw him out there. And he got some valuable experience, and he’s going to learn and grow from it. He’ll be better because of it. So, that’s a good thing.”

Fraley compared Frazier’s situation to Christian Mahogany a year ago, when he missed most of the offseason program and all of training camp with mononucleosis, but quickly jumped veteran Kayode Awosika on the depth chart and made some spot starts down the stretch.

Credit for getting those guys prepared is spread around, from assistant offensive line coach Steve Oliver to the training staff, for having them physically ready to contribute.

“Even when we drafted him, you could see his play style at LSU, his natural ability there, switching off games, all that stuff,” Fraley said. “You saw the physicality. But I always equate (it to) when you come in midway through the year, take away the rookie part, it’s no different than being IR’d and coming back halfway through the year, and you’re getting ready to get up to speed. And that’s why our practices are designed the way we do it. You’re getting yourself ready.

“…When you show the ability in practice, that gives us more comfort to be, like, ‘Hey, he should be up on game day, let’s give him a shot. He looks good, he’s going to help us win,’” Fraley said.

Trying to find a ceiling

Since Campbell has taken over playcalling, Detroit has increased the usage of the team’s pony package on offense — using both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery on the field at the same time. Within that, Gibbs is seeing more situational reps outside and in the slot.

“He’s a weapon for us, we’ve said that all along,” Campbell said. “I mean, this guy serves many roles and he gives us a lot of flexibility with what we can do. I’ve said this before, the more that we ask him to do, the better he gets, and the more he can do.”

After making massive strides as a receiver in his second season a year ago, Gibbs is on pace to top that production with 58 catches for 474 yards and three touchdowns through 13 games.

“There are certain things that we did last year, but now, with Sam (LaPorta) being out, now we’re getting to put some of that on tape and let (Gibbs) utilize some of those skills,” Scottie Montgomery said. “I mean, Sam was a great choice (route) runner. Sam was a great strike (route) runner, all these routes. We’re just now finding more ways to get Jahmyr involved with the offense.

“Where I’ve really seen it grow probably the most in the last year would be just confidence in coverage and coverage recognition,” Montgomery continued. “If you watch everything he’s doing, even his choice routes, everything he’s doing is probably 0.5 to 0.75 seconds quicker, which is better for Jared (Goff), which is better for our tackles, which is better for everybody.”

It might not sound like much, but a half-second difference is an eternity for a quarterback.

“It’s a huge difference,” Montgomery said. “It’s a lifetime. …He’s just out of it so much faster. And it’s really easy to see once you put on a choice route from last year, practice-wise, and then a choice route from this year. You’ll just see where that football’s out, he’s on it, he’s coming out of those breaks, and he’s getting run after the catch.

“…I think the sky’s the limit,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know a limitation on him as a player. I really don’t. This guy can do it all.”

LB draws impressive comp

The Lions got mocked for drafting Gibbs and Jack Campbell in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. It’s likely far fewer are laughing now as Gibbs has developed into one of the league’s top offensive weapons and Campbell one of the better off-ball linebackers.

With the Lions more committed to aggressively rushing the passer up front this past week, the team needed to lean more heavily on Campbell and the linebackers to stop the run.

Campbell, who was given charge of the defense this season, has become an indispensable piece for the Lions.

“I don’t know if you can put it into words,” Dan Campbell said. “He’s extremely valuable. Right now, first of all, he leads the team in amount of reps that he’s played for a season. He’s taken more reps than anybody on this team. He plays on kickoff for us and he’s an asset on kickoff, then everything you see on defense. He doesn’t come off the field, he’s our bell cow, green dot. And the guy is smart and he’s instinctive and he is snap-to-whistle all-out, all the time, in practice too. And he doesn’t take plays off, he doesn’t take days off, he goes after the football, he’s a ball guy. So, he’s invaluable.”

Dan Campbell was asked if he could think of any comps for his middle linebacker, either from his playing or coaching days. The choice he came up with was lofty, to say the least.

“Just being at New Orleans as a coach for that period of time and watching (Luke) Kuechly out there,” Campbell said. “Now, Kuechly, for a linebacker, had rare speed. But as far as all the other stuff, there are a lot of similarities. Freaking smart, he knows what’s coming before it’s there, high energy, never gets tired. Freaking runs all the way down the field, runs back to the huddle, gets everybody lined up. He’s constantly barking out communication, going after the football. You may get him once. You’re not going to get him twice. So, there’s those things that show up. They show up.”

Still wanting to coordinate

Fraley interviewed to be Seattle’s offensive coordinator this past offseason, getting to the second round of conversations for that vacancy before the Seahawks opted to go a different direction.

Fraley returned to Detroit with an elevated title, run game coordinator, but he remains interested in an expanded role if the opportunity presents itself.

“I’ll just say I just want to be the best coach right now, best o-line coach, and if one of those ever came up, it would interest me,” Fraley said. “But right now, can I be the best o-line coach or the best coach today? So, that’s really the focus on it. All that other stuff, like last offseason, was fun. You know, it’s nice to look back, but really, the focus is how can I become better and how do I get my guys to become better too every day? Like today, as soon as they walk off this podium, how do we get better for the Rams? That’s all the focus.”