Pride of Detroit
Breaking down Lions’ second-round draft pick Tate Ratledge’s film from his time at the University of Georgia.
Next up in our film study of the Detroit Lions’ 2025 draft class, we have right guard Tate Ratledge. Drafted 57th overall after Lions general manager Brad Holmes traded up three spots in the second round, Ratledge logged over 2,000 snaps at the University of Georgia, and earned First Team All-American honors in his final year in Athens.
Standing 6-foot-6 and 308 pounds, Ratledge is a mountain of a man at right guard that plays the position with a nasty streak. In the running game, he wants to bury defenders when he gets his hands inside of somebody, and he will let you know about it afterwards, too. And with a RAS of 9.96 at guard, he has the athleticism and traits to continue his development under Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley.
And with the retirement of All-Pro center Frank Ragnow, that development may need to happen sooner rather than later. Whether it is at center from the jump or at guard in 2025 and center later on in his career, Ratledge is going to be someone the Lions rely heavily upon right away if they want to continue their success from the last several years.
If you are looking for the first installment where I broke down aspects of first-round pick Tyleik Williams’ game, you can check that out right here.
Now let’s get into Ratledge’s tape from his time in Athens.
Both pre-snap and post, Ratledge does an excellent job of identifying where he needs to be in pass protection. On the rep below, both defensive tackles for Kentucky slant in an effort to to free up the blitzer
Instead, Ratledge and the rest of the offensive line are able to wash the defenders down the line of scrimmage, while the running back picks up the extra rusher.
Next up we have a clip from Georgia’s game against Ole Miss where Ratledge is once again a step ahead of the defense. Despite having a tackle head-up with him pre-snap, he sees the linebacker (#11) walk down towards the line of scrimmage at the last minute, hoping to shoot a gap on his way to the quarterback. Ratledge picks him up, and if it weren’t for a nice delayed rush off the edge, Georgia’s offensive line would have blocked this up perfectly.
Another aspect I loved of Ratledge’s tape was his grip strength. In pass-protection, once he latches onto an opponent’s chestplate, he is able to sink his anchor in and halt even the nastiest of bull rushes. In this clip against Auburn, he is able to do just that.
He knows he has to work left out of his stance, and wastes no time in doing so. From there, he shoots his hands and immediately sinks his hips. If I have one bold prediction to make...
