The Waiting Game: Watching the NFL Draft with Chanhassen grad Frank Ragnow

KSTP Sports was invited into the Ragnow family’s Victoria home Thursday night as Chanhassen grad Frank Ragnow waited — and hoped — to hear his name called in the NFL Draft.

After starring at Chanhassen High, Ragnow headed to the University of Arkansas. During his junior and senior seasons, Ragnow raced up the NFL prospect rankings. He didn’t allow a quarterback sack his junior year. After deciding to return to finish school with a senior season, he allowed neither a QB sack nor a QB hit in his final year at Arkansas.

Analytics website Pro Football Focus rated Ragnow the top center after each of his last two seasons in college. In fact, he “graded out” with two of the highest single-season scores PFF has ever given to a center.

However, Ragnow suffered an ankle injury during his senior season that pushed his stock backward a bit.  Concern about the ankle lingered in NFL circles as the 2018 Draft approached.

In the day leading up to the Draft, it was anybody’s guess where Ragnow might wind up being selected. 

Most agreed he would be a first-round pick — possibly remaining on the board long enough for the hometown Minnesota Vikings to have a chance at drafting him. But, when it comes to the NFL Draft, there are never any guarantees.

In the end, Ragnow’s lifelong dedication to football — and all the waiting he, his family and friends endured Thursday night in Victoria — paid off, as he was drafted 20th overall by the Lions, the earliest a Minnesotan has been drafted since Cretin-Derham Hall’s Michael Floyd went 13th in 2012.