With Detroit Lions great Frank Ragnow retiring, the team could look to recoup some of the signing bonus given to the former franchise stalwart, which could in turn create some bad blood between the two sides.
According to CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry, the Lions could look to get back $1.2 million of the $6 million signing bonus that was attached to Ragnow’s contract now that he’s hanging up his cleats.
“Fortunately for Frank Ragnow, his 2021 contract extension only had a $6 (million) signing bonus. The Lions are entitled to get $1.2M back from Ragnow,” Corry wrote.
The problem with doing so is that it could create a rift between Ragnow and the Lions, something we saw happen with Detroit legend Calvin Johnson, whose relationship with the organization has since been repaired.
“Exercising rights to recoup money with retirement caused a rift between the Lions and Calvin Johnson for a few years,” Corry noted.
Johnson wasn’t the only player the Lions did this with, as the team also took back a lot of from fellow franchise legend, Barry Sanders, when he decided to retire.
“Historically, the Lions haven’t cared about the optics with signing bonus recoupment. The Lions won a grievance against Barry Sanders to recapture signing bonus when he retired at 30,” Corry wrote.
The situation with Sanders saw the Lions collect $5.5 million from the running back, and the team also withheld the final $1.75 million that was owed to Sanders as part of the $11 million signing bonus on his contract.
The optics of the Lions taking back money from Ragnow would be bad, no doubt, and clearly Detroit has a history of not caring about such a thing, so it’s possible, especially with president Rod Wood still in charge and having a hand in the Johnson situation.
However, we would suspect that Wood has learned his lesson from that debacle and won’t make the same mistake again. After all, the Lions’ have preached taking care of their players in recent years, and taking money from Ragnow would fly in the face of that.
We just can’t envision the Lions doing this with Ragnow, who gave so much to the team over his seven years in the NFL. He played through countless significant injuries and was an elite center who played a huge role in Detroit’s resurgence.
Not to mention, $1.2 million isn’t exactly a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, and the Lions are just fine financially, so they don’t need the money by any stretch.
The Lions should 100% do the right thing and let Ragnow keep that money as a showing of appreciation for everything he meant to the franchise.
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