2025 NFL Prospect Profile: Georgia Offensive Guard Tate Ratledge

Earlier than getting into the 2025 free company, the Cincinnati Bengals made the robust choice to let beginning proper guard Alex Cappa go.

Sure, the transfer clears up area, but it surely additionally leaves a significant void on an offensive line that has had points ever since Joe Burrow’s arrival (and, sure, even earlier than then).

Whereas the group is searching for a veteran choice in outdoors free company, they’ll additionally search for viable competitors within the NFL Draft. Given their penchant for big-school gamers (particularly within the SEC) and their gravitation towards gamers from the College of Georgia, Tate Ratledge has formally entered the chat.

Ratledge has a powerful pedigree, and earlier than the Mix in Indianapolis, he was pegged as a Spherical 3-4 prospect. Nevertheless, after testing higher than many had anticipated, it’s exhausting to see a situation the place he falls out of Night time 2.

Tate Ratledge

Peak: 6’6”

Weight: 308-320

Age: 23 (Turns 24 in April)

Hometown: Chattanooga, TN

College: Georgia

RAS: 9.97 (Unofficial)

Background

Popping out of highschool in Tennessee, Ratledge was the No. 39 ranked participant within the 2020 recruiting class and selected the College of Georgia over the College of Tennessee. Ratledge solely performed in a single recreation as a freshman with the Bulldogs however grabbed the beginning proper guard spot as a sophomore.

Sadly, Ratledge suffered a season-ending Lisfranc damage within the first recreation of the yr. He got here again and began 14 video games in 2022, cementing himself as a stable collegiate beginning guard.

Nevertheless, his profession reached new ranges in 2023 and 2024. Ratledge earned First-Workforce All-SEC honors in each seasons whereas additionally grabbing First-Workforce All-American honors for his 2024 efforts.

Strengths and Weaknesses

There’s a lot to love about Ratledge’s talent set, significantly along with his spectacular NFL Mix numbers. The prevailing thought was that Ratledge wouldn’t take a look at in addition to he did, which undoubtedly helped his draft inventory.

Ratledge anchors properly and stands stout on the level of assault in go safety. Regardless of going up in opposition to each larger inside gamers and selecting up different rushers, he’s fairly constant in his kind and holds agency.

Within the run recreation, Ratledge routinely seems to be for a defender to hit. This isn’t to say he’s reckless or performs out of the scheme by any means, however there are some enjoyable moments on movie the place he seeks out and meets linebackers within the gap and runs upfield to take out defensive backs.

Relying on the scenario, one might view his older age as a constructive or a unfavorable. For the latter, it brings in regards to the query of the participant’s “ceiling height” when getting into the league as an older participant.

However for a group just like the Bengals, who’ve a right away emptiness at proper guard, they could take a look at his pedigree, movie, and age with a choice to take the optimist’s route, chalking it as much as “maturity.” This might level to Ratledge’s potential to step in as a starter on Day 1.

Outlook

There aren’t many apparent weaknesses in Ratledge’s recreation, and his spectacular athletic profile positively boosted his inventory to the Spherical 2-3 vary. He has traits that time to an efficient, long-term NFL starter.

As talked about above, groups could have hesitancy about beginning a rookie on their offensive line straight away, however Ratledge’s age and SEC expertise ought to make him extra prepared than most. And within the case of the Bengals, he’d be flanked by Amarius Mims, with whom Ratledge has familiarity from their days at Georgia.

Ratledge is probably not a Corridor of Fame or perennial Professional Bowl guard on the professional degree, however he’ll be succesful and reliable. He may even convey a tenacity akin to throwback offensive linemen, which might be a very good match for the bodily AFC North.

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