Tate Ratledge walked off the practice field Sunday, Aug. 16, and shook his head “no” at a gaggle of reporters waiting for an interview.
Ratledge, the Detroit Lions’ second-year starting right guard, took the bulk of the first-team reps at center Sunday as the Lions continue to work through their potential replacements for Cade Mays.
Ratledge had a bad snap on a third-and-goal play from the 5 and another that ricocheted off Jared Goff’s fingers in the red zone, and Juice Scruggs had a couple errant snaps of his own in his first padded practice back from a soft tissue injury.
A second-round pick out of Georgia last year, Ratledge clearly was frustrated with his play – and maybe at moving back to center, too, from his preferred position of right guard – but the Lions have four weeks to get their line right for their season opener against the New Orleans Saints and Dan Campbell said they have “to be willing to go wherever we can go with this.”
The most likely scenario is that Scruggs plays center until Mays returns, potentially sometime in October, and Ratledge stays at the right guard position he showed so much promise at last year. But there’s a case to be made that the Lions are better off with Ratledge at center and Christian Mahogany and Ben Bartch at the two guard spots than with Scruggs at center and either Mahogany or Bartch on the bench.
Both Mahogany and Bartch took reps at right and left guard Sunday on a day that Scruggs chalked some of the snap issues up to the quick rain shower that sprinkled practice.
“But that’s no excuse,” Scruggs said. “That’s good work for us, wet ball, cause it’s going to happen in the season. It’s always good work. The first wet-ball practice there’s going to be some balls on the ground for sure.”
Scruggs, who walked gingerly off the field after one series and watched as Ratledge took the final 13 snaps at center with the first-team offense (Scruggs said he was fine after practice) had some advice for his younger counterpart when it comes to snapping, too.
“Just tell him to not get down on his self cause it’s going to be bad plays,” he said. “Like you said, wet ball so it’s going to be bad snaps but just move onto the next play. And I told him, just have the guys on the same page. If you’re all wrong, you’re all right. Just try to encourage him cause I know how it is being a young guy at center.”
Here are more observations from Sunday’s practice:
Young guys getting the call
The Lions worked a couple young players into the first-team defensive rotation Sunday, with rookie fifth-round pick Keith Abney taking some slot cornerback reps and rookie second-round pick Derrick Moore playing in a pass rush package with Aidan Hutchinson and some of the Lions’ other top defensive linemen.
Abney’s certainly had moments this summer where he’s looked like a rookie not ready for primetime yet – he got torched by Lucky Jackson on one rep of one-on-ones Sunday – but he knocked down a handful of passes the past two days (including a one-on-one to Tom Kennedy on Sunday) and has always been willing to stick his nose in the run game.
The Lions have plenty of veterans vying for time at slot corner – Roger McCreary, Christian Izien and Ennis Rakestraw – but there’s a good chance Abney plays at some point this fall.
As for Moore, he might be limited to package duty early in the season with Tyler Lacy and DJ Wonnum ahead of him in the rotation. But he’s good enough on special teams that he should be active for games and he had a nice rush Sunday when he had his knocked off and still managed to chase Jared Goff out of the pocket.
Opportunities wanted
Jameson Williams did not practice Sunday for undisclosed reasons, which gave Tay Martin a chance to work with the first-team offense.
“It’s great, honestly, to get out there with the ones and get a chance to go against the one defense and get some reps with Jared and all those other guys,” Martin said. “It’s just a great opportunity for me to get my feet wet and play some ball, move fast with those guys.”
I don’t recall Martin catching any passes from Goff in team drills, but I thought he still had a nice practice. Martin won both his routes in one-on-one drills, was on the Lions’ first-team kick cover unit and shined as he usually does in special teams drills. If he makes the roster as the fifth (or sixth) receiver, Martin almost certainly will be active on gamedays because of his coverage ability so the Lions have to figure out a role he can fill on offense, too.
Isiah Pacheco, Jacob Saylors, Damone Clark, Mekhi Wingo and Myles Adams were among others who sat out practice, though Pacheco was in full pads and had a wrap on his left knee when he walked off the field.
Can Aidan Hutchinson get even better?
Hutchinson had another dominant practice Sunday and continues to look primed for a huge season.
The Pro Bowl defensive end capped the Lions’ situation period at the end of practice with a fourth-and-7 sack on Goff – I’m not sure if he beat Blake Miller or Mahogany on the play as both were chasing him in the backfield – and he had two other sacks in a three-play span in one team period.
Hutchinson beat Tom Kennedy for his first sack of the day on a play the Lions might want to scrap if it calls for a receiver to block one of the best pass rushers in football, and he bowled Penei Sewell over on his second sack, knocking Goff to the ground.
Sometimes, it feels like Campbell could blow every other play dead because Hutchinson is in the backfield.
“That’s every day,” defensive tackle Alim McNeill said. “That’s really nothing new. Hutch is going to have that every single day, and he has, every single day.”
Offense cooks in the red zone
The Lions spent a good chunk of team drills Sunday working in the red zone and despite Hutchinson’s dominance it was advantage offense.
Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play from the 3 to cap the first-team offense’s first set of downs, Jahmyr Gibbs beat Barnes for a 20-yard touchdown on a wheel route on the first snap of their second set of downs, and Isaac TeSlaa caught a 15-or-so-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10 over Rakestraw on the third set. TeSlaa, who’s had a sluggish camp and couldn’t hang onto an acrobatic catch over Rock Ya-Sin in one-on-ones, celebrated with an emphatic spike that looked like the release of some pent-up frustration.
Luke Altmyer and the second-team offense didn’t have quite as much success in the red zone, though Raheem Blackshear hung onto one touchdown catch despite a big hit by McCreary and Sione Vaki scored on a run up the middle from the 1.
Defensively, Anthony Lucas had a couple pressures with the second-team defense, including a sack against Larry Borom on the final play of practice, Tyre West had a tackle for loss on a run play and Trevor Nowaske had a safety on Jabari Small on a series when the offense started backed up to the goal line at its own 1.
Quick hitters
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions observations: Tate Ratledge back at center … for now
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
