The night he was drafted by the Lions, Tate Ratledge declared himself ready to do "whatever helps the team win. If they need me to go kick out to tackle, I'll go kick out to tackle. If they need me to be an X receiver and run go balls, I can do that."
No, Ratledge wasn't catching passes in his first practice of rookie minicamp. Nor was he blocking defensive ends. But after playing exclusively at guard over three seasons at Georgia, he saw the bulk of his snaps Friday at center.
The Lions like to cross-train their young offensive linemen at multiple spots. Brad Holmes said after the draft that they would take the same approach with Ratledge and fellow guard Miles Frazier. The second-round pick is being put right to the rest. The only experience Ratledge has playing center came in practices at Georgia, mostly in camp ahead of his final season.
"You gotta say a lot more," Ratledge said after Friday's practice. "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."
The Lions already have an All-Pro-caliber center in Frank Ragnow, while they have potentially two open spots at guard. Ratledge will compete for one of them with Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany and Frazier, but the Lions might also be grooming him for spot duty on the interior of the offensive line. Ragnow is entering the eighth season of his career and has played through numerous injuries in recent years, including a chronic issue with his toe. He's closer to the end than the beginning.
"Right now I’m learning the basics (of the offense), learning the playbook, trying to get everything down at every position I can and put myself in the best spot to compete," said Ratledge.
Ratledge took all but four of his 2,070 career snaps at Georgia at right guard; he took the others at left guard. But the practice reps at center weren't throw-aways. Nothing under Kerby Smart is done without purpose and aggression. As Ratledge put it, "Coach Smart got us right." Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew said Friday that part of the reason they were drawn to Ratledge early in the scouting process is that "you love the versatility of the player. He can play multiple positions inside." Ratledge is a 6'6, 308-pound mauler with a mullet.
"Like the toughness, love the way he plays the game, a guy who can get out in space," said Agnew. "Those guys who can get out in space and block for a guy like Jahmyr Gibbs and then he’s going to the house for a touchdown, you love those guys. Excited about Tate, man. Really, really excited about Tate."
Ratledge, in turn, loves the way the Lions play. He said he watched them quite a bit in college -- and even more on tape since being drafted -- "and the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the mentality of the offensive line. They were finishing people all over the place. To me, that’s a big part of the game, and knowing I was a big fan of this offensive line, it’s cool to step into this."
"I couldn’t have asked for a better situation with this team, this program," he said.
Agnew, a former defensive lineman in the NFL, said the Lions want "physical, tough, aggressive" players on the interior of the offensive line. Ratledge is a self-described "dirtbag." That makes two of them in the trenches in Detroit, including Mahogany. Both are 24 years old.
"The guys you hated the most when you played against them were those pricks, man, that would hit you after (the play), and they played with that grimy attitude. You hated those guys, and you knew you had to come to work when you played against those guys. Those are the types of guys you look for, those gritty guys, those guys that compete and finish blocks, they block through the whistle," Agnew said.
The Lions also repped Frazier at tackle in addition to guard on Friday. Asked about cross-training the rookies, Agnew reiterated it's something the Lions do with all of their offensive linemen and that Dan Campbell trusts his O-line coaches Hank Fraley and Steve Oliver to do it right.
"You understand how much these guys can do mentally when you go through the process and you vet them and you find out how much they can handle," said Agnew. "Both of those guys can handle all of it. We feel good about that."
For Ratledge, the physical adjustment in flipping from right guard to center or left guard is "just figuring out different footwork, hand placement and how to set people and how to run block people. Figuring out different techniques and how to perfect those at different positions."
In one day and a few meetings with Fraley, a former interior offensive lineman who played 10 seasons in the NFL, Ratledge said he's "already learned so much from him.
"And to have him on the field with me, in the classroom room with me, really progresses me a lot," he said.
Ratledge will be leaning on him even more in the months ahead.