Frank Ragnow's retirement now leads to the biggest summer of one Lions player's career, this is his big chance to show he can start

Frank Ragnow's retirement from the NFL came as a shock to Detroit Lions fans and media. The team may have known about it for some time, but we'll never really know. It's going to be difficult to move past it, but that's what the Lions will do. 

Now, moving forward, the Lions need to find the heir to Ragnow's throne. It seems at this time that it might be second-round pick Tate Ratledge or Graham Glasgow, but there is another who isn't getting a lot of focus on him right now, but should this summer. We're talking Kingsley Eguakun.

Eguakun is actually a center. He started at center for Florida for three seasons and likely would have been drafted in last year's draft had he not suffered an ankle injury that cost him the majority of his final season. 

The Lions brought him in as an undrafted free agent, and he had some real flashes during training camp and in the preseason. He played all three preseason games at about 35 snaps a pop and allowed three pressures and no sacks. 

It was clear that he needed some more time to cook, but there was some thought that he could make the Lions' 53-man roster for a good part of the summer. Ultimately, the Lions went with Michael Niese, who had also been taking reps at center, and Egukun went to the practice squad. 

Now, with Ragnow gone, Eguakun is the only guy on this team who can say that he's predominantly played center for years. That should get him opportunities to show that he can take this role and be the Lions' center of the future. 

There isn't going to be a shot that's better than this. He has to contend with a rookie guard, who should probably stay at guard since he's so good at it, who has never played center, and an aging Graham Glasgow, who has filled in at the position, but has also struggled a bit when he's there. 

If Eguakun can show that he can handle the reps that he gets, he may start to get reps with the first team. If he shines there, he has a real chance to come out of nowhere and take this job. It's not going to be easy, and the odds are against him, but this is the biggest chance he has to do it. Let's see what happens.