Player Breakdown: Golden Tate

I've recently put some thought into Golden Tate and the fact that 2013 is the last year on his contract. Throughout the 2012 season, Tate proved to be a playmaker capable of making defenders miss and picking up extra yardage. Unfortunately for him, he is the third receiver on the roster and Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin will already have a combined $23.1 million cap number in 2014 (33% of the total offensive cap number). Factor in another $4-5 million that Tate will likely demand, and the receiver group becomes around 40% of total offensive spending. It’s hard to imagine a run-heavy team like the Seahawks spend $25+ million on wide receivers, which makes the possibility of Golden Tate in an opposing team's uniform starting 2014 more probable.

That being said, Golden Tate has developed a great chemistry with Russell Wilson, and is a key cog in the Seahawks offense. It’s the synergy between Tate and Wilson that allowed for Wilson to improvise outside the pocket, something that he did with lots of success late in the season. It’s hard to imagine the Seahawks offense minus Tate, so it will be very interesting to see if he gets resigned.

There seems to be some kind of perception of Tate that he is a poor man’s version of Percy Harvin. Both are smaller receivers, both have running styles comparable to that of a runningback, and both are extremely effective at breaking tackles and gaining yards after the catch. But when looking back at Tate’s highlights through 2012, and looking at Harvin's career highlights, it seems to me that the two are really two different players that should complement each other very well this season.

Like I mentioned earlier, Golden and Russell seem to have developed a really good chemistry this past season. Whether it’s a RW scramble or a standard 5-step drop back, we've seen the Wilson to Tate hookup time after time for significant yardage. Tate is extremely versatile as a wide receiver, both in terms of where he lines up and how he plays. We've seen him line up all over the field- he's the starting split end, he's played in the slot, and at times he's lined up at flanker. In terms of his playing style, he fights for the ball in the air, is constantly is fighting for yards after the catch, and perhaps most importantly with Russell Wilson at quarterback, knows when to go off script and improvise.

Last year's week 17 game against the Rams was Golden's first career game with triple digit receiving yards. He made numerous big grabs in the game, but one catch on 3^rd and 5, with the game tied at 13 late in the 4th   quarter was a huge play to keep the game winning drive going. The Seahawks line up in a 3 wide receiver shotgun set with Rice and Tate wide, Doug Baldwin in the slot, Zach Miller the tight end, and Robert Turbin the runningback.

As was a theme of the game, the Rams defensive line easily beats the Seahawks’ blockers and Russell Wilson is forced to leave the pocket. Notice how all of the Seahawks’ receivers are blanketed by Ram defenders as Russell steps out of the pocket. Early in the season, with a lack of effectiveness in the passing game, the Seahawks’ receivers spent lots of time in practice working on synchronizing their movements with Russell Wilson's scrambling. When the quarterback leaves the pocket and extends the play, that's when the receiver must know to break off their route and find an opening in the defense. That’s exactly what Tate does on this play.

When Tate notices Russell leaving the pocket, he breaks off his route and turns upfield past cornerback Trumaine Johnson. As one can see from the picture below, Tate has a couple steps on Johnson at the time Wilson is releasing the ball.

He hauls in the pass at the 46 and shakes off Johnson. He then dances past Craig Dahl and past Johnson again, before finally being brought down by Dahl at the 29.

This is a beautiful play not only because of the Wilson to Tate connection for a crucial first down, but because of how they did it, and what Tate did after the catch. He breaks off his route and goes off script, catches the pass for a first down, and then dances past several defenders for an extra 17 yards after the catch. This play helped continue a ten play, 91 yard drive which ended with the game winning touchdown. 

The other great quality about Golden Tate is his ability to "high-point" the ball. He made a couple really nice plays this year where he did this, but one play against the Jets stood out to me. The Seahawks are in a two tight end set with Anthony McCoy in the backfield. Rice and Tate both run go routes with Zach Miller running a 15-yard drag route. McCoy stays in to block and Lynch releases out of the backfield.

The Jets play man coverage and Tate draws a one-on-one matchup to the bottom of the screen. Unlike the play above, the cornerback, Kyle Wilson, is running step for step with Tate. Wilson looks off the safety and trusts Tate to make a play on the ball.

Wilson throws a beautiful ball and Tate jumps over Kyle Wilson to make a great catch.

Another view of the catch:

After the 2012 preseason I was very excited about Braylon Edwards (who is 6'3) because he was making these types of catches, and I was hoping to see him play a role as the "go up and get it" receiver in the Seahawks offense. Ultimately, Tate filled that role beautifully and proved time and time again that Russell Wilson can trust him to win in these jump ball type situations.

This isn't the type of catch you see your typical 5'10 receiver making. Tate certainly is similar to Russell Wilson in the way that his "height doesn't define his skillset." The Seahawks receivers aren't necessarily the most physically imposing bunch (Harvin is 5'11, Tate and Baldwin are 5'10, and Sidney Rice, though 6'4, is only 202 pounds), which makes having a player like Tate who plays bigger than his measurables suggest that much more valuable.

I love Tate's game. No other receiver in the NFL matches his mix of quickness, strength and body control, and he has a competitive nature that keeps his motor constantly going. The potential was always there, but Tate seemed to finally put it all together last year. It really felt like Tate made the flip from relying on his athleticism in college and early in his career, to being a professional and perfecting his craft his third season in the league. Tate finally became not just an athlete, but a wide receiver.