How a Lions Key OL Injury Could Impact Newly Paid RB Jahmyr Gibbs

Detroit spent last season watching the football gods take turns kicking its defense. The bill has now been forwarded to the offense.

Frank Ragnow is out eight to ten weeks with a fractured small bone in his wrist, which means the Lions lose their center until roughly the middle of the season. Dan Campbell called the injury significant, and he called it that for a reason.

"That's the QB of the line," Chris said, and he is right. Rich took it a step further. Every sport works the same way. You have to be strong up the middle. Quarterback, center, defensive tackle, middle linebacker, safety. Running back, obviously.

Timing makes it worse. Detroit's first two home games come against teams that were in the top 10 of the draft, which are winnable if the front holds up. The road assignment is the problem. The Lions go to Buffalo to kick off the Thursday night football schedule in the Bills' new stadium, which debuted over the weekend and looked the part. The grass is awesome. The building is going to be a jewel of Western New York, save for a couple of seats with sightlines that had Rich wondering whether Costanza handled the architecture on that particular section.

The bigger question underneath the injury is what it does to Jahmyr Gibbs, who is now the highest-paid running back in football and, as of this offseason, operating without Knuckles. Sonic is on his own in Detroit while Knuckles is down in Houston. Isiah Pacheco inherits that role.

Campbell, given a chance to be coy about the workload, declined to take it.

"We're going to push him. Because we think this kid can be one of the best, if not the best. So, we're going to push him to get there," Campbell said. "We're going to see what he's got. I'm glad we got Pacheco, and he's going to very much be a part of what we have, but we need to see where we can take Gibbs now. We've only scratched the surface of him."

Only scratched the surface. That is the tell.

Campbell could have gone the safe route and said they will see what Gibbs can handle. Instead he said Detroit thinks Gibbs can be the best in the league and that they intend to find the ceiling. The Lions have set their expectation level in public, which means everyone else's just moved too. Sonic plus Knuckles minus is not the plan. Supersonic is.

The market already sensed it. Gibbs currently holds the best odds for Offensive Player of the Year, with Bijan Robinson second, Ja'Marr Chase third, Puka Nacua fourth, and Christian McCaffrey and Jaxon Smith-Njigba rounding out the top of the board.

Which brings this back to the guy snapping the football. Losing Ragnow for the first month of the season, if not two, is going to affect all of it. The only real questions are how significantly and who steps in.

Seth McLaughlin is already on the depth chart. Next man up.