Hank Fraley is one of the few Detroit Lions holdovers from the prior regime that is still around the new-look team. The offensive line coach proved once again on Sunday why head coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes were smart to keep Fraley in Detroit.
All Fraley did was help prepare replacement starters at all three interior line positions for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, a team featuring one of the league’s best defensive fronts. Dan Skipper had one practice at left guard before being asked to start at the unfamiliar position, his first NFL start no less.
Fraley’s pupils graded out pretty darn well on their test. Detroit ran for 191 yards and QB Jared Goff had enough time to toss four touchdown passes behind the makeshift line.
Campbell heaped praise upon Fraley in his press conference on Monday.
“He’s been very important,” Campbell said of Fraley. “Hank’s got a good feel of it, having played the position, but also coached it. And he’s got a real good feel of those guys, what they do well, how to develop the talent, and he just – he’s got a real good feel of how to pull it out of them.”
Fraley played center in the NFL for a decade and did so despite not being an outstanding athletic specimen. He sees himself as more of a teacher than a coach, something he told me in an interview at the Senior Bowl this year. His teaching skills are readily evident. Campbell knows and appreciates how well Fraley pulls it off,
“I mean, that’s – one of the things that’s not always – when you’ve played at this level like he has and played for a long time, and you’re not the best athlete –like, I wasn’t the best athlete, but you’ve got to understand the technique and you can give guys things that they need to survive and that’s what Hank’s able to do. And so, it’s one thing to do that, but man, you’ve got to be able to communicate and you’ve got to be able to motivate to push these guys. Because sometimes, man, when you’re an ex-player the – there’s a lot of guys that’ll start backing off and taking it easy because you feel a little bad for them because you know what that’s like, man, that’s hard. It’s hard, but you can’t do that, you’ve got to continue to push and he’s got a good balance of that. So, he’s very important to us.”
Fraley is in his third season as the Lions OL coach and fifth overall in Detroit. He’s been critical in developing not just premium talents like first-rounders Penei Sewell, Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow but also capable reserves such as center Evan Brown, Tommy Kraemer and now Skipper.
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