Lions Notebook: Will Frank Ragnow Return, TeSlaa's Role, Trade News

Detroit Lions Dan Campbell hit on a number of key topics in radio interview

Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow (77) on the sidelines during action against the Atlanta Falcons in 2023 | Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell discussed a variety of interesting news nuggets and team issues during his weekly radio interview on 97.1 The Ticket.

He touched on the retirement status of Frank Ragnow, trade deadline news, provided a health update on safety Kerby Joseph and addressed Isaac TeSlaa's role in the offense.

Here is a comprehensive recap of what the former NFL tight end discussed.

Trade deadline update

Most notably, Detroit's fifth-year head coach reiterated the team's stance regarding the trade deadline.

General manager Brad Holmes has looked into trading for an offensive lineman, but typically the cost will be quite high to acquire a lineman at the deadline.

Campbell noted deals for offensive linemen typically do not occur, because team's covet the position and will then ask for a significant amount of draft capital in order to be willing to give one up.

The team has reiterated that no deals will be made unless it is the right player, the right fit and will come at the right price. Campbell does not think at all about what other team's are doing, instead choosing to focus on the Lions process.

Kerby Joseph health update

Unfortunately, the irritation in the knee that has been bothering safety Kerby Joseph has not subsided at the pace the team would have liked.

"The irritation is not going away as fast as we had hoped," said Campbell. "There is improvement, but it's just not quite there yet. We're not going to force this thing until we get it to calm down as much as we possibly can, because we don't want to keep, if we can keep from it, we don't want to have to revisit this every week once he comes back.

"Maybe that happens anyway, whenever he comes back, but we were hoping it would resolve itself a little bit quicker or cleaner. It's just not there yet."

Will Frank Ragnow return?

Many fans have been clamoring for the return of Frank Ragnow, especially given the recent struggles of the offensive line.

Unfortunately, a return seems highly unlikely.

"Here's what I know about Frank, if Frank really wanted to, he would be blowing my phone up," said Campbell. "And I haven't gotten a text yet, so I think Frank is feeling good about his decision. Look, they just had another baby. I am so happy for them. That ship is sailed."

Isaac TeSlaa's role

Detroit has struggled mightily this season on third down. Part of the reason Detroit had success last season was the effectiveness of utilizing the team's third wide receiver.

The team made the decision to invest heavily in TeSlaa, but his usage so far has been a head-scratcher.

Campbell indicated he expects TeSlaa to be on the field more in the coming weeks.

"I'd like to get him on the field a little bit more," said Campbell. "We came out of the bye and there was a couple of things that that we noticed. Wanted to get 'Lif (Kalif Raymond) more involved. We didn't necessarily get that going last week. But, we need to get 'Lif involved, we need to get TeSlaa involved. ... I'd like to get him on the field a little bit more."