Rookie guard Tate Ratledge got a pretty big boost of confidence from his head coach on Thursday.

"Tate Ratledge, I thought looked like a starting NFL guard yesterday, which fires me up," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. "So, it's early, that's step one, but the kid's getting better."

That's certainly good news seeing how the Lions are counting on their second-round pick in this year's NFL Draft to be their starting right guard when the regular season begins.

Ratledge was good in his preseason debut in Atlanta last week, and he and right tackle Penei Sewell were dominant in the joint practices against the Miami Dolphins on Wednesday and Thursday, opening up a ton of holes in the run game.

Ratledge seems to be settling in nicely at right guard and in doing so is gaining a lot of con

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