Film review: Breaking down Lions rookie Tate Ratledge’s debut

With this new era of preseason football in the NFL, it is becoming increasingly rare to see players that will be weekly contributors during the regular season get any sort of extended action during the exhibition games. If you were to ask Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, he would tell you that is what joint practices are for: A setting where he can get his starters reps in a more detailed and controlled environment than what a preseason game can provide.

With that said, there are exceptions to the rule. Sometimes players need those live reps under the lights, and that is exactly what rookie right guard Tate Ratledge got in Week 1 of the preseason against the Atlanta Falcons. Ratledge, along with the first-round pick from the Lions’ 2025 NFL Draft class Tyleik Williams, saw their first action as professionals during the Lions’ win. Let’s jump into the All-22 and see how Ratledge fared during his 24 snaps at right guard.

Pass protection

As expected after watching a lot of his tape from when he was at Georgia, Ratledge was really clean in pass protection against the Falcons. Both his grip strength and ability to anchor showed up often in his preseason tape. Watch below as Ratledge shows really good patience on this rep by not lunging forward, remaining patient, and sinking his hips once he has the defender in his grasp. Nice, clean win from the rookie.

On top of his impressive ability to anchor against power-rushers, Ratledge looked like a vet with how he was passing off stunts and games. In this next clip below, you can see the Falcons are going with only three down linemen, along with two standing edge rushers in a wide-nine alignment. Additionally, number 42 of Atlanta is also walking down towards the line of scrimmage, throwing yet another pre-snap variable into the mix for the Lions’ offensive line to sort out.

Once the ball is snapped, Atlanta tries to run games on either side of the center, but Ratledge is on it from the get-go. He mirrors the defender’s movements before looking for work once the linebacker tries looping around the outside shoulder of the right tackle. This gives Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker the time he needs in order to complete his pass to rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa.

This next clip doesn’t result in the cleanest of pockets for Hooker, but I like what we see from Ratledge. Atlanta is running another game, this time with linebackers standing in either A-gap presnap. Once the ball is snapped, both backers drop into coverage, leaving four to rush the passer. The defensive tackle on Ratledge’s side attempts to work across his face, in order to free up things for his teammates that are working back around to the right side. The rookie does a nice job of washing the defender down the line, while also keeping his eyes where they need to be in order to slow down the two rushers that get free due to the stunt.

Moving bodies in the running game

Another aspect of Ratledge’s game that is sure to get Lions fans excited ahead of the 2025 regular season is his ability to displace defenders when run blocking. Simply put, Ratledge is a mountain of a man that relishes the chance to fire off the football and hit someone in the mouth. In the next clip below, he and right tackle Mason Miller both do an excellent job of moving the three-technique out of the running lane, giving Miller the chance to climb to the second level where he is able to bury a linebacker into the turf.

Next up, we have another snap where the defender is once again lined up on Ratledge’s outside shoulder. Watch as he wastes no time putting his body in between the defender and the ball-carrier. He is able to toss the defender to the ground, eliminating him from the play in the process. Somewhere Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley is smiling at the thought of putting this young bull to the left of All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell.

Lastly, we have another play that doesn’t end with the desired result, but watch Ratledge’s blocking assignment. He gets out of his stance and immediately strikes his target, moving him off the line of scrimmage. It ends with a loss of yards on the play, but blocking like that on the backside of a run is the type of effort that can spring running backs Jahmyr Gibbs or David Montgomery for big gains when the games matter in the fall and winter months.

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