# In Graham Glasgow, Lions have a starting center who ‘settles the whole offense down’
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Following a destabilizing offseason, the Detroit Lions sure are thankful to still have Graham Glasgow kicking around.
Glasgow is entering his 10th NFL season and has just completed his third position change in as many years. He played right guard after rejoining Detroit before the 2023 season, moved to left guard following the addition of Kevin Zeitler in 2024, and now, after switching over to center, he holds the key to Detroit’s offensive success in 2025.
With so many moving parts as the Lions try to replicate past success — namely, the loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and stalwart center Frank Ragnow — offensive line coach Hank Fraley said Tuesday that Glasgow’s presence “settles the whole offense down.”
“Graham’s been a natural center in this league, very smart player, dependable player,” Fraley said. “So having him in the room over the years, along with Frank (Ragnow), it’s like having two coaches on the field.”
The dependency on Glasgow’s intelligence is at an all-time high.
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“I think they’ve come a long way, that’s for sure. You see a ton of growth with those five,” Campbell said, adding the group has "been working together now for over a month. So you do see the growth, there’s that communication that takes place that is big with those guys. So it’s good, I feel really good about it.
"I also know we’re not done, they’re not done, and that’s encouraging. I say that in a good way, like, there’s so much growth left to take place with not only those two but them collectively as a unit. So that’s pretty exciting.”
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Fraley said he thought Ratledge “did a tremendous job in the spring, but at the end of the day, we felt a little bit better with Graham going in there.”
That especially goes for the mental side of the game. Glasgow isn’t just responsible for blocking interior defenders; he’s also tasked with acting as a second set of eyes for the quarterback pre-snap, making checks at the line and communicating with the rest of the unit.
“It’s a lot more mental stuff, and I’ve always liked that part of football, so that’s been fun,” Glasgow said. “But football is still football, in my opinion; it’s not too different. But it’s been fun.”
This is an area where Glasgow excels, Fraley said, adding Glasgow has stacks upon stacks of notebooks ready to fall back on in preparation for an upcoming game.
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Not only is he taking notes during meetings prior to a game, but he’s also filling the pages with information that he picks up during the game “because you never know when you’re gonna play 'em again.”
“His notetaking is one of the best I’ve been around, and he really keeps all of his old notebooks from last year, they’re still stacked up there,” Fraley said. "So like, all of his Green Bay notes from last year, he’s already referencing, ‘Oh, well we did this last year, are we doing this again?’
“They’re so detailed out, and he keeps them there for the year. That’s how him, and I would say, Ragnow were. Their books all stayed there through the years, and they just keep it going like a library for them.”
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He was playful when asked if he feels re-energized by taking on a new challenge entering Year 10 — “Sure, you can say that,” he said — and joked Lions quarterback Jared Goff is “a lot more demanding than I remember.”
“I get a little sweaty. He’s always telling me to change my pants and stuff,” Glasgow said. “He can be a little bit of a diva.”
Goff, for his part, is thrilled to have a familiar face under center.
“Obviously, Frank is such a great player, it’s hard to replace him in any capacity. But Graham’s a great player in his own right as well and has done a hell of a job stepping in in that role, and even last year at times … he’s been great, he really has. He’s taken a lot of the responsibility on his shoulders.”