ESPN continues to roll out its position rankings based on the opinions of coaches, scouts and executives around the NFL and the most recent edition ranked interior offensive linemen, with Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow being among them.
According to the poll, Ragnow finished as the No. 8 interior offensive linemen in the NFL which, in our humble opinion, is too low for the best center in the league.
But what makes the ranking worse is the fact that Ragnow wasn’t even the highest-ranked center on the list. That honor went to Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey, who landed one spot ahead of Ragnow at No. 7.
Ragnow did finish two spots higher than he did last year, so there’s that. He was also ranked as high as No. 5 by at least one voter, but one or more voters didn’t have him ranked at all.
“Ragnow has shown a slight decline in the eyes of evaluators, but he’s still considered a blue-chip player,” Jeremy Fowler wrote. “Ragnow is a premier communicator at the line of scrimmage, helping one of the NFL’s best offenses get organized every down.”
“Would take others over him from a physical standpoint at this stage, but he’s still one of our top 5-6 interior players at this stage,” a lead scout with an NFL team said.
It’s hard to contemplate why Humphrey finished ahead of Ragnow. The Chiefs center gave up three more sacks, two less pressures, and his run-blocking grade was over 12 points lower, and his overall grade was nearly 10 points lower. Humphrey did have a better pass-blocking grade, but the difference was less than five points, according to Pro Football Focus.
The only player who could have taken the title of best center in the NFL away from Ragnow was Philadelphia Eagles great Jason Kelce, but now that he’s retired, it’s Ragnow and everyone else.