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The Detroit Lions are ready to go on a revenge tour during the 2025 NFL season. That may sound odd for a team that won 15 games in 2024, but the Lions know that they have unfinished business. Detroit had their best season in franchise history, securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time ever. But it all came to an end during the postseason with a crushing loss against the Commanders.
Detroit has already faced plenty of adversity before the beginning of the 2025 season. The Lions lost both of their coordinators to head coaching jobs on other teams. They will also be without Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow after his surprise retirement from the NFL.
But that won’t stop the Lions from kneecapping their way back into the playoffs.
The Lions made some great moves this offseason that shored up the weak points on the roster. The defense has plenty of depth at every position, and the offense is just as good as ever.
Detroit’s biggest improvements came during the 2025 NFL Draft. The Lions added several talented rookies, a handful of whom will help the team immediately in Week 1.
But which of those young players are already making an impact on the team during the offseason? And will it translate well into the regular season?
Below we will explore one Lions rookie who has turned heads at the team’s OTAs over the past few weeks.
The Lions drafted guard Tate Ratledge in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Ratledge was routinely paired with the Lions during the pre-draft process. Not only is he a scheme fit in Detroit, but he matches the culture as well. He is a self-described “dirtbag”, which is exactly the type of player the Lions love during the Campbell and Holmes era.
Ratledge has turned heads at Lions OTAs for a number of reasons. The reason that fans will care about the most is the fact that Ratledge took some snaps at center during rookie minicamp and OTAs.
He admitted that it is a big transition, especially because of the mental load that weighs on the mind of every NFL center on each play.
“You gotta say a lot more,” Ratledge said after practice during rookie minicamp. “You gotta know the safety rotation, stuff like that, know where the point’s going. At guard most of the time you’re listening to the center tell you where to go. At center, like I said, you’re telling everybody else where to go.”
Ratledge will most likely start for the line in some capacity during his rookie season.
Now it is simply a question of which position Ratledge will end up playing.
The Lions got some surprising news earlier this week when Frank Ragnow retired from the NFL.
Ragnow retired at 29 years old, in the middle of his...
