Lions mailbag: Will Tate Ratledge hold out of training camp?

Lions mailbag: Will Tate Ratledge hold out of training camp? - Pride Of  Detroit

Detroit Lions rookies reported for training camp on Wednesday, and for the first time in a long time, that date felt significant.

That’s because there’s a league-wide holdout happening for second-round picks. As of the publication of this article, only three second-round picks have signed their contracts, with the first two breaking precedent and having their contracts fully guaranteed. It’s clear everyone else was either pushing for fully guaranteed deals or hoping to see a higher percentage of their deal guaranteed.

With no movement—until late Wednesday night—there was a palpable fear that this holdout could drastically impact the Lions. Tate Ratledge has suddenly become a key Lions player following the retirement of Frank Ragnow, and if the plan remains to play Ratledge at center—somewhere he did not play in college—then Detroit is going to want him to log as many training camp and preseason snaps as he possibly can. A holdout would not be ideal.

So, what is the level of actual concern here? How long could a holdout continue, and at what point could that actually impact Ratledge’s ability to develop? Should the Lions just give him a fully guaranteed deal and be done with it?

That’s the main topic on this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast, which heavily features training camp questions. Note that this podcast was recorded before the third second-round pick—49ers’ Alfred Collins (43rd overall)—agreed to his rookie contract, which is not quite fully guaranteed. It’s worth noting that Adam Schefter believes this deal “is expected to trigger multiple second-round signings.”

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