{"id":41699,"date":"2026-01-14T23:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699"},"modified":"2026-01-14T23:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:45:19","slug":"breaking-what-detroit-lions-top-rookies-want-to-improve-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING : What Detroit Lions Top Rookies Want to Improve in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n

The top of the Detroit Lions 2025 NFL draft class had the opportunity to gain a significant amount of experience all throughout this season.<\/p>\n

Tyleik Williams, Tate Ratledge and Isaac TeSlaa each gained valuable reps and are looking forward to their sophomore campaigns.<\/p>\n

Each shared during locker room clean out what they wanted to improve next season.<\/p>\n

“If I were to grade myself, I probably would give it, like, a C, C+,” Williams exressed to local reporters. “I could\u2019ve done a lot of things better, but I\u2019m still a rookie. This is a different playing field than college, so just gotta adjust to that and get better this offseason.”<\/p>\n

The 2025 first-round pick acknowledged injuries and his play did impact his playing time as his rookie season progressed.<\/p>\n

“I think I was playing pretty well in the beginning, and then some things happened, injuries happened, and I think I took a little dip,” said Williams. “And then over the last few weeks I thought I was starting to play a little better.”<\/p>\n

Williams wants to make more plays and improve his overall pass-rush prowess.<\/p>\n

“Get-off, keying the ball more and working my hand-eye coordination. Normal stuff, nothing crazy,” Williams noted.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Offensive lineman Tate Ratledge played at right guard his rookie campaign. He felt a sense of disappointment, due to his standards being quite high.<\/p>\n

But the signs were there the team has a guard that be reliable and develop. The team could also still make the decision to play him at center in the future.<\/p>\n

“Definitely better than where it started, but obviously, a lot of things to improve on,” Ratledge said. “I don’t think I played to this offensive line’s standard and this team’s standard. So, definitely a lot of things I can improve on. It’s pretty disappointing because I hold myself to a high standard. It’s a building block and something I have a baseline to build on.”<\/p>\n

When asked, Ratledge expressed he needed to key in on fundaments, including pad level, in order to be able to win more at the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n

“The one thing that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later is pad level,” Ratledge noted. “I’m already a tall guard as it is, and improving pad level is one of my bigger things.”<\/p>\n

Wideout Isaac TeSlaa showed flashes of why the team invested so much draft capital to target him in the third-round of the draft.<\/p>\n

“I’m very happy with how things went this season for me personally. Obviously, so many things I can work on. I just had my exit meeting with (Receivers coach) Scottie (Montgomery),” said TeSlaa. “He said the biggest thing is just quickness and separation, adding just a little bit more to my game will really help.”<\/p>\n

Next season, it is expected that TeSlaa will earn the opportunity to be the team’s third wide receiver, behing Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.<\/p>\n

“I’m just excited to be part of that trio,” TeSlaa said. “Obviously, take some time this offseason to relax a little bit, but then get to training and get ready to work on the things that will help us win next year.”<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top of Detroit Lions 2025 draft class gained valuable experience in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING : What Detroit Lions Top Rookies Want to Improve in 2026 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING : What Detroit Lions Top Rookies Want to Improve in 2026 - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top of Detroit Lions 2025 draft class gained valuable experience in 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T23:45:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/lion-22.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=41699\",\"name\":\"BREAKING : What Detroit Lions Top Rookies Want to Improve in 2026 - 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