The Detroit Lions won’t have to deal with any holdout drama, as Tate Ratledge has come to an agreement for his rookie contract.
After some minor contractual drama, the Detroit Lions ’ full 2025 draft class is now under contract. Second-round pick Tate Ratledge, the final holdout of the Lions’ class, agreed to his rookie deal this on Thursday, per Jordan Schultz. Once officially under contract, Ratledge can report to Lions training camp, where rookies started arriving on Wednesday.
League-wide, teams were delayed in signing second-round picks after the Houston Texans broke precedent by signing their second-round pick—receiver Jayden Higgins—to a fully guaranteed contract. Prior to that, no second-round pick had received that much of their contract guaranteed, although a large majority of it has been in the past for high second-round picks. The Browns followed suit by giving Carson Schwesinger, the 33rd overall pick, a fully guaranteed deal of his own.
For weeks, those were the only two second-round picks under contract. However, on Wednesday night, the 49ers agreed to terms with the 43rd overall selection, Alfred Collins, on a contract that wasn’t fully guaranteed. From there, the dominoes quickly fell, and Ratledge got his deal done Thursday.
Ratledge figures to be a huge part of the Lions’ 2025 campaign. After Frank Ragnow’s sudden retirement this offseason, Ratledge could be next in line to start at center, and because he doesn’t have a ton of experience there, every rep counts. The fact that Detroit got this deal done before the official start of training camp on Sunday is somewhat important.
Now all that is left is for Lions veterans to report to camp on Saturday, and then we’re off!