Frank Ragnow did not take part in individual drills Friday for the second straight practice, but the Detroit Lions are holding out hope they’ll have their starting center for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Lions listed Ragnow and special teams ace C.J. Moore as questionable for Sunday, and ruled out cornerback Desmond Trufant with a hamstring injury.
Ragnow suffered a groin injury in practice Wednesday. He did not practice Thursday and was listed as a limited participant Friday.
If he cannot play, the Lions are expected to activate Joe Dahl from injured reserve and give him the start at center.
The Lions opened a roster spot for Dahl’s return Friday by placing tight end Hunter Bryant (hamstring/concussion) on injured reserve.
Dahl has missed the past three games with a groin injury.
“I thought certainly on Wednesday with the pads on, I thought Joe looked pretty good,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “Came out, his pad level was good, I thought he moved well, that was a good, competitive practice for us. (On Thursday), coming off of the padded practice, we knew it’d probably be a little bit slower from that standpoint, but I thought he was doing a great job. So we’ll get through another day today and then go from there. But he’s looked good so far.”
Rookie Jeff Okudah will start at left cornerback in Trufant’s place, and he could be facing a shorthanded Jaguars offense with top receiver D.J. Chark questionable to play with a sprained ankle.
Hamp’s reward
Patricia gathered his team in a circle before Friday’s practice to present a game ball to owner Sheila Ford Hamp from the Arizona game, her first since taking ownership from her mother, Martha Firestone Ford, in June.
After a brief presentation, players applauded Hamp then took the field for individual drills.
“It was very meaningful to her, I think, based on what I saw,” running back Kerryon Johnson said. “But she’s just like us, she wants more and we want more. We’re trying to give her as many footballs as she can handle. It seems like we played Arizona three months ago, cause just with the bye week and the games in between, and COVID everything moves 10 times slower. So we’re just trying to stack them up and give her some more.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.