Hank Fraley enters his seventh season with the Lions and his fifth as the team's offensive line coach in 2024. He originally began his time with the club as the assistant offensive line coach in 2018.
In 2023, Fraley helped the offensive line guide the team to new heights, with the Lions winning their first division title in 30 years and appearing in their second-ever NFC Championship Game. The offensive line was anchored by T Penei Sewell, who became Detroit's second offensive lineman since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to be named First-Team AP All-Pro. C Frank Ragnow earned Second-Team AP All-Pro honors for the second time in his career and T Taylor Decker became the fourth tackle in franchise history to reach 100-career starts for the team. Sewell also became the first Lions tackle to earn consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl since T Lomas Brown (1990-95) and Ragnow became the third center in franchise history to be named to at least three-career Pro Bowls, all of which have come under Fraley's time leading the room.
Detroit's offensive line also ranked fourth in the NFL in sack percentage allowed (4.8%) in 2023 while guiding the ground attack to a franchise-record 27 rushing touchdowns and the fifth-most rushing yards (2,311) in a season in team history.
In 2022, Fraley once again tutored one of the top offensive lines in the NFL, producing Pro Bowlers in Sewell and Ragnow. The unit allowed only 24 sacks on the year, the second-fewest in the League, while their 3.9% sack-rate was the third-best in the NFL. Under Fraley's guidance, the group anchored an offense that rushed for 2,179 yards, the most for the franchise since 1997 at the time. The team also scored 23 rushing touchdowns, tied for the fourth-most in Detroit single-season franchise history.
In 2021, the Lions added Sewell with the seventh overall pick of the NFL Draft, marking the second offensive lineman (Ragnow) the team had selected in the first round since Fraley was hired by Detroit in 2018. Additionally, under Fraley's leadership, the offensive line adapted to several injuries throughout the season.
After an injury knocked Decker out for the first eight games in 2021, Fraley was instrumental in helping Sewell adjust and start the team's first eight games at left tackle. In Week 1 vs. San Francisco, Sewell became the youngest player in NFL history to start a game at left tackle (20 years and 202 days). Upon Decker's return, Sewell started eight games at right tackle. Sewell allowed only 2.0 sacks over the final 12 games played in his rookie season as he earned a place on the 2021 PFWA All-Rookie Team.
Fraley also helped G Jonah Jackson earn a trip to the Pro Bowl in 2021 and Detroit's offensive line paved the way for nine different players to record a rush of 20-or-more yards, the first time an NFL team has done so since the 1984 Chicago Bears
In 2020, Fraley guided Ragnow to his first Pro Bowl appearance after Ragnow did not allow a sack or commit a false start in 14 games played.
In the 2019 season, the O-line helped four different running backs accumulate at least 200 rushing yards on the season, which was an NFL-high. In Week 7 of the 2018 season, Detroit's offensive line helped put together a season-best 248 rushing yards at the Miami Dolphins, their most in a game since 1997.
Prior to coming to Detroit in 2018, Fraley served as the offensive line coach at UCLA in 2017. He originally entered the NFL coaching ranks when he was named the assistant offensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, where he worked for three seasons (2014-16). While assisting with the offensive line, Fraley helped the unit produce one of the NFL's top rushing attacks in 2015.
With an offense featuring RB Adrian Peterson, the Vikings offensive line paved the way for Peterson to rush for an NFL-leading 1,485 yards in 2015, while the team finished fourth in overall rushing that season. Minnesota's offensive line finished the 2015 season as the only NFL team to have the same starting offensive line in all 16 games.
Prior to joining the Vikings, Fraley served as the offensive line coach at San Jose State in 2013. He began his coaching career in 2012 when he was named the offensive line coach at the University of San Diego.
A former lineman himself, Fraley played 11 seasons in the NFL after entering the League as an undrafted free agent in 2000 out of Robert Morris. He went on to play with the Philadelphia Eagles (2000-05), Cleveland Browns (2006-09) and St. Louis Rams (2010). As a mainstay along the offensive line, he helped Philadelphia win four-consecutive NFC East titles between 2001-04 and reach four-consecutive NFC title games. The Eagles advanced to Super Bowl XXXIX against New England following the 2004 season.
A standout athlete at Robert Morris, Fraley was an All-Northeastern Conference selection from 1997-99, helping his teams win conference titles each season. He had his No. 75 retired by the school in 2001 and became the first Robert Morris alum to play in the Super Bowl. He was enshrined in the school's Hall of Fame in 2006 and honored by the Northeast Conference in 2010.
Fraley and his wife, Danielle, have four sons, Trent, Mason, Travis and Beau, and one daughter, Scarlett.
