May 20, 2019; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Golden Tate makes a catch during organized team activities at Quest Diagnostic Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
This offseason, the New York Giants rebuilt their receiving corps. They traded away superstar receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns. They also gave Sterling Shepard a contract extension ensuring that he will be around for the long haul. Then the Giants also went ahead and signed veteran wide receiver Golden Tate to a three-year, $27 million contract.
The Giants viewed Golden Tate as a high-character player that could add veteran leadership and performance to the team. The picture of the locker room class from Tate was quickly washed away when the receiver was suspended for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Golden Tate appealed the suspension and failed, resulting in a four-game suspension for the veteran. Golden has now served his suspension in full and is back with the team. The Giants officially activated Tate on Tuesday. He will make his regular-season debut in Big Blue this Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
Golden Tate is known as being one the best (if not the best) playmaking wide receivers after the catch. Tate is dangerous with the ball in his hands.
Thankfully, Daniel Jones is great at getting the ball into his receivers’ hands and letting them do their work. In week four against the Redskins, Jones had his ups and downs. But one area that he strived in was throwing the ball underneath.
The way to work Golden Tate into the gameplan is to give him the ball in space and let him work. Tate is a tough runner to take down. In 2017 and 2018 both, Golden Tate forced the most missed tackles after the catch out of all receivers in the NFL. He forced 22 missed tackles in 2017 and 23 missed tackles in 2018.
The broken tackles lead to extra yardage, too. Over the past ten years, Golden Tate has ranked 4th in the NFL in yards after the catch per reception with an average of 7.9 yards.
As seen in the clip below, Tate has the ability to turn a 12-yard reception and turn it into a 45-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. With Daniel Jones’s advanced accuracy underneath, Golden’s ability to run after the catch could be the difference-maker in the Giants’ offense and bring them to a week five victory.
This post was published on 2019-10-05 12:00
