John Morton said he will call plays from the coaches booth in Thursday's preseason opener against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Tate Ratledge experiment at center lasted all of three practices, but Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said he is not displeased at all with the way Ratledge handled the job.
“I love how smart he is," Morton said. "And he’s just going to continue to grow. I mean, I thought he did an exceptional job when he was at center. I mean, that’s a lot mentally. Different snap counts and audibles. It was a lot and I thought he did a pretty good job. I’m really happy where he’s at."
A second-round pick out of Georgia, Ratledge opened training camp as the Lions' starting center and moved to right guard last week.
He's played right guard the past four practices with the first-team offense and is expected to open the season as key part of the Lions' reconstructed interior line.
Graham Glasgow, who played left guard last season and opened camp at right guard, is the Lions' current starting center and second-year lineman Christian Mahogany is playing left guard.
The Lions lost Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow to retirement and last year's right guard, Kevin Zeitler, to free agency. Ragnow and Zeitler had a combined 20 years of experience. Mahogany and Ratledge have made two combined NFL starts.
"They're good players, they seem to be pretty smart," Glasgow said. "Tate seems to pick things up pretty quickly. It's just making sure that we can trust each other and that we know how we're going to do things and I think that overall things have gone pretty well so far. I don't have a lot of complaints."
Lions coach Dan Campbell has said Ratledge still will take center reps this summer, though Morton said he's not sure what position the rookie will play in the Lions' preseason opener Thursday against the Los Angeles Chargers.
"I do like where we’re at right now (on the offensive line as a whole)," Morton said. "I think Ratledge has done a good job. I mean, we had him at center first and now we moved him to guard. Glasgow is at the center now. I think that’s more natural for him. Cause that center and quarterback, that needs to be right. The quarterback’s got to feel right, right there. But I do like the way it’s going right now."
More Morton
Morton will call plays in a game Thursday for the first time since his lone stint as NFL offensive coordinator with the New York Jets in 2017.
He said he plans to call plays from the coaches box "so I can see it all, away from all the chaos."
And he said "very comfortable" with his play calling ability.
"Very confident to get the plays in and out, I’m on it," he said. "I’ve learned a lot since then, so I feel really good."
The Jets went 5-11 in Morton's lone season calling plays and finished 25th in scoring offense and 24th in total yards though several players set statistical career-highs that season including receiver Jermaine Kearse, (65 catches, 810 yards), running back Bilal Powell (178 carries, 772 yards rushing, 5 TDs), tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins (50 catches, 357 yards) and quarterback Josh McCown (2,926 yards, 18 TDs, 67.3% completion percentage).
Dave Birkett will appear at the Buy Michigan Now author showcase from 3-8 p.m. Aug. 2 in downtown South Lyon with his book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline." He covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions notes; John Morton happy with rookie OL Tate Ratledge's play
Category: Football
