Just because he has never done it before does not mean he cannot do it. With perennial Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow retiring on Monday after seven years in the NFL, the Detroit Lions will have to replace a key contributor up front. Even though he did not play the position in college at Georgia, the opportunity seems to be presenting itself for rookie Tate Ratledge to step up and play some center.
Ratledge was recruited out of high school to play tackle at Georgia, but spent his entire career between the hedges manning guard. Fortunately for him and everybody involved in this unforeseen situation, Ratledge had cross-trained a bit potentially play some center if it ever came to that. Whether it be Sedrick Van Pran or Jared Wilson beside him, it never manifested, but that is just fine.
Back in May, Ratledge talked about the stark differences between playing center and his usual guard.
“You gotta say a lot more. 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."
This could be a new role for Ratledge, or not. However, I think playing in the same offense that has afforded key Lions contributors like Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown, among others, so much success should help Ratledge make the most out of his opportunity. Having two former Georgia teammates in Dan Jackson and Dominic Lovett on the team should help as well.
Ratledge has the strength, intelligence and football savvy to pull this off, be he is quite injury-prone...
Tate Ratledge may have what it takes to replace Frank Ragnow in Detroit
While I thought Ratledge may end up with a team like the Tennessee Titans coming out of Georgia, he went to a great spot in Detroit. With Dan Campbell as his head coach, the competitive fire will never be extinguished out of Ratledge. The fact general manager Brad Holmes saw him for not only his talent, but his inherent versatility tells me Ratledge was possibly being tabbed for something bigger.
Right now, I still feel like the Lions are a playoff team in the NFC, probably closer to a lock of making them than not. I do admit they Lions have suffered far more attrition than most teams in the NFL from this past offseason. That could catch up to them in the end, which is why I have my reservations about the Super Bowl still being open for this team. Missed the boat or not, I am not done with them.
What I will say about Ratledge to wrap this up is when he is out there, he can make a difference up front. He may has missed the bulk of a national championship-winning season at Georgia years ago, but he was only an underclassmen. Where I saw his value the most is what the Georgia offensive line looked like when he was not around when Carson Beck was the quarterback. He missed his guy bad!
Living up to the hype of replacing Ragnow is not going to be easy, so let's let Ratledge just be himself.