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Detroit Lions' Frank Ragnow looking more like a left guard at OTAs

Ragnow said he's leaned on veterans like Glasgow and Lang early on to help with his learning curve, and though it's early and the team hasn't practiced in pads yet, Patricia said Ragnow looks like he belongs.

Matt Patricia insists he still has not decided what position first-round pick Frank Ragnow will play this fall.

“Definitely no decisions,” the Lions coach said Thursday.

But if recent history is any indication, there’s a good chance Ragnow will be the Lions’ starting left guard when they open the season Sept. 10 against the New York Jets.

Ragnow, a center the last two seasons at Arkansas, played exclusively left guard during Thursday’s organized team activity practice, and has spent the majority of his time at that position this spring.

The Lions have shown a propensity in the past to practice their top draft picks immediately at the position they end up playing as rookies.

In 2016, Bob Quinn’s first year as Lions general manager, the Lions took offensive tackle Taylor Decker in the first round and maintained they didn’t know if he or Riley Reiff would play left tackle that season.

Decker practiced at left tackle from the moment he arrived in Allen Park, started all 16 games at the position as a rookie and remains entrenched there today.

Last year, the Lions drafted Jarrad Davis in Round 1 and touted his ability to play either the middle or weakside linebacker spot.

Davis played middle linebacker on Day 1 of rookie minicamp, and like Decker has never known another position as a Lion.

The Lions have talked up Ragnow’s ability to play both center and guard — he played 15 of his 42 career games at Arkansas at right guard, starting at the position as a sophomore — but on Thursday used veteran Graham Glasgow at center and gave Wesley Johnson and Leo Koloamatangi reps at the position with the second and third teams.

“We’re obviously trying to put everybody in a bunch of different positions,” Patricia said. “You’ll see guys all over the place today, in a bunch of, maybe, positions they didn’t play in the past or what theoretically on paper it says that they should play. But that’s the part of it that’s good right now is we’re not in game-plan mode we’re just kind of in a learning mode and a fundamental mode. So we’re just trying to see how much they can all handle in different spots.”

Ragnow, who was graded as Pro Football Focus’ top-rated college center each of the last two seasons, said he feels just as comfortable playing left guard as he does center and took “about the same amount” of reps at the center and guard positions during his four years at Arkansas.

“Don’t really have a preference,” he said. “Just want to be out there helping the team. I’ve played a lot of positions in high school, played a lot of positions in college. I just like playing football and wherever they put me I’m going to be happy to be there.”

The Lions started 11 different combinations of their line last season as injuries to Decker, T.J. Lang and Rick Wagner took a toll on the offense.

Glasgow split his time between center and guard — he made five starts at center in place of Travis Swanson — and was the only Lion to play every offensive snap last season.

“(Center is) a very mental position,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “There’s a lot that goes into it and the more familiar you are with the NFL and all that, just how schemes are played and how defenses are played, what you’re trying to do on offense, I think the more experiences that those guys have the better they can be. But you see guys step in as rookies and play at an all-pro level, too. So we’ll see. We’re all just competing and trying to get better.”

Quinn pointed to Ragnow’s smarts and experience in the SEC last month as reasons to believe he could play center as a rookie, and some teams have experienced success going young at the position in recent years.

Pat Elflein started 14 games at center for the NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings last season, and Ryan Kelly, the last center picked in the first round in 2016, started all 16 games as a rookie for the Indianapolis Colts.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for the NFL,” Ragnow said. “It’s a whole different speed and these are a lot of talented guys out here. All the way, four deep, everybody’s really talented. So it’s been an adjustment, but it’s been fun to get to work and kind of just learn every day.”

Ragnow said he’s leaned on veterans like Glasgow and Lang early on to help with his learning curve, and though it’s early and the team hasn’t practiced in pads yet, Patricia said Ragnow looks like he belongs.

“I think with all young players that come in and have been here for a really short amount of time right now, let’s say it’s kind of a whirlwind for them. It’s spinning a little bit as far as all the information,” Patricia said. “But I think he’s done a great job. I mean, he comes and he works extremely hard. … You know what’s good, I think, is when you see and you go out and practice and you don’t particularly maybe notice that there’s a guy that he’s a young player or not and just kind of fits in with the group and goes and plays. You’re not really looking at him saying, ‘Oh, that looks like it’s out of place.’ I haven’t noticed that at all.”

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!

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