Frank Ragnow’s toe is feeling good, but the Detroit Lions are dealing with another injury on their potential starting offensive line.
Right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai sat out practice Wednesday with an undisclosed injury.
Vaitai did not finish practice Tuesday, but said on his way off the field he would be fine. He watched practice from the sidelines in a baseball cap Wednesday.
Vaitai and Graham Glasgow are competing for the starting right guard job. Glasgow, who re-signed with the Lions this offseason after being released by the Denver Broncos, took first-team reps Sunday and Tuesday, while Vaitai worked with the second team. Vaitai played with the starting group Monday and would have been next up in the rotation Wednesday.
“We told those guys that the best man’s going to play,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said before practice Tuesday. “And so we’re keeping our eyes open. Certainly, we like Graham cause he’s got flexibility to play center and guard and that was kind of the starting point there. But we’re not going to just say, ‘Well, you’re just a backup.’ We’re going to let him duke it out with Vaitai here and a lot of it too is, all right, does V, is his legs back under him? How’s this? Coming off the injury, how’s he doing? And there again, it’s early, but we’re Day 3 and he seems to be doing pretty good here. But I’d say it’s open.”
Vaitai missed all of last season with a back injury after starting 15 games for the Lions in 2021.
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The Lions have one of the NFL’s best offensive lines, but have injury concerns up front to navigate this summer.
Along with Vaitai, Ragnow, a Pro Bowl center, has dealt with a turf toe-like injury for two seasons and did not practice most of the spring. Ragnow underwent surgery for the injury in 2021 and told the Free Press this offseason the toe has gotten to the point it is “inoperable.”
Through four practices, Ragnow has taken every first-team rep at center. He said Tuesday he’s “never been more confident in my toe” thanks to the prehab and rehab work he’s done with the Lions’ new training staff.
“I know I let this slip this offseason where I said inoperable and it just kind of maybe got a little bit blown out of the water,” he said. “I’m feeling really good. Right now I’m in a good space mentally, especially. Like I’m confident and I’m feeling really good out there.”
‘Huge year’
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson got a welcome text message from quarterback Jared Goff this summer, while Goff was working out in California with Lions receivers, that read simply: “St. Brown, huge year.”
“That’s all he said,” Johnson said. “Saint has attacked this offseason probably like he’s attacked every offseason and the experience that he has under his belt, two years in the NFL, going in second year in this offense, he has a great understanding of where he needs to be, when that ball’s going to be there and hopefully we can take that into the season.”
St. Brown has 196 catches for 2,073 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first two NFL seasons and has been Goff’s favorite target in practices this summer.
Beyond St. Brown, Johnson said he likes where the Lions’ offense is at entering Year 2 of the system. Last year, the Lions finished fifth in points scored (26.6 ppg) and fourth in total yards (380 ypg).
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“To me, it feels like it’s an offense going into Year 2,” Johnson said. “The conversations that are being had, particularly from the guys that were here last year, are what we talked about in the springtime, it’s less learning concepts. It’s now understanding the answers to the problems because every play call, defenses present problems and now we’ve got the solutions. We’re a lot quicker getting to those solutions than what we were, so we have made a step forward,
“That’s really with the vets. The young guys, they’re still – they’re drinking through a water hose right now, which is a good thing. We’re trying to make this really, really challenging for all of our players and as we go through camp, the mental (errors are) what we look at quite a bit so. … Right now, we’re pretty good, but as we get going, the more volume, the more that will go up and the guys that end up making our team are the guys that can handle that, handle the volume and deal with it, so it’s good.”
Briefly
Wide receiver Jameson Williams (hamstring) and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (knee) missed their second straight day with injuries, and rookie safety Brian Branch (undisclosed) did not practice Wednesday. The Lions have their first off day of camp Thursday, and will have their first padded practice of summer when they return Friday.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.