The Detroit Lions will play out the string in Week 18 after officially being eliminated from playoff contention in Week 17. This is not what fans had in mind before the regular season started, but between injuries on both sides of the ball and inconsistent play, the Lions will find themselves sitting at home.
The offensive line and its performance have been under intense scrutiny this season, as the Lions have dealt with injuries at multiple spots and growing pains. Rookie offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, who some fans thought would be Detroit’s starting center, has been predominantly at right guard.
Ratledge has shown some promise, but also struggles at right guard, which makes you wonder what his long-term future looks like. On Monday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters that he wasn’t sure what Ratledge’s ultimate position would be, but did not shut the door on the idea of him at center, per Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News.
If that’s the case, the Lions could use Week 18 as the perfect spot to give Ratledge some snaps at center to see what he could do heading into the offseason. However, Campbell dismissed the notion, saying it won’t happen this week, per Pride of Detroit.
Lions Only Hurting Their Future Selves with Tate Ratledge Decision
The fact that the Lions won’t even consider it in a low-stakes environment is puzzling, given that we already know what Graham Glasgow is at center. And he’s not getting better at this stage.
We don’t know what Ratledge is as a starting caliber center in the NFL. But what we do know is that Lions general manager Brad Holmes said in August that they can see Ratledge being Detroit’s long-term answer at center and that his ceiling could be higher there than guard, per Justin Rogers of the Detroit Football Network.
Looking ahead into the offseason, Glasgow is under contract for the 2026 season with an $8.4 million cap hit and will be 34 by next season. Now, the Lions could cut Glasgow with a post-June 1 designation, which would net them $7 million in cap savings and only cost $1.4 million in dead money, per OverTheCap.
If you’re the Lions’ front office, that $7 million could be used to address another position or find more depth on the offensive line. However, they only make that move if they’re confident in moving Ratledge to center, which is a question mark. And another thing to consider is that if they move Ratledge without knowing if he can hack it at center, are they pushing Miles Frazier to the starting right guard spot?
That would be a bold move by the Lions, especially given the small sample size we’ve seen from the rookie guard. As we said, Detroit could easily find its answer to Ratledge by putting him at center in Week 18.
However, the fact that the Lions are willing to kick the can down the road means we won’t see Ratledge at center until Week 1 of the regular season, as Detroit doesn’t play its starters in the preseason.
