Golden Tate: The Good, The Great and the Ugly
Last off-season, the Giants signed 31-year-old Golden Tate, a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver, to a four-year, $37 million contract, with $22.95 million guaranteed. Tate has played for the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, and briefly with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tate's Giants career got off to an inauspicious start when he was suspended for the first four games by the league for having violated the PED policy. Once he was able to join the team, Tate displayed the toughness and savvy route running ability that he has showcased since entering the league in 2010.
Tate finished the year with 49 receptions for 646 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games played. Those numbers don’t seem all that impressive, but he was so clutch in big moments, and his ability to find holes in zone coverage over the middle of the field was imperative to the success of then-rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.
Tate was one of the more underrated aspects of a dismal 2019 New York Giants squad, and there is a lot to like about his game.
The Good: Contested Catch Ability
Tate excels going over the middle of the field because of his ability to secure tough catches through congested areas while leveraging his incredible toughness to break tackles and pick up extra yardage.
Tate lined up as a slot receiver for the Giants 483 times in 2019, and we see him do just that in the above clip against the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona is in a Cover 1 robber type of defense to the weak-side of the 3x2 set. The Giants run a slant/flat combination with the No. 2 (Tate) and No. 1 receiver to the field.
Once Tate breaks the plane of the No. 3’s defender, the robber starts heading downhill towards Tate, while the defender covering Tate in man starts to close width too.
Tate feels the big hit coming, secures the catch, angles his body to get skinny through contact, avoids the contact, and falls backward for a first down.
Tate made a living with catches like this in big third-down situations for a rookie quarterback in Daniel Jones last year. Thirty of Tate's 49 receptions went for first downs, a rather impressive stat.
In the above clip, the Giants are in 11-personnel with a tight stack to the field, Tate being the man on the line of scrimmage in said stack.
Arizona shows blitz and drops to a cover 3 type of zone defense, and the Giants create a high low read with the stacked receivers both running horizontal crosses.
Tate runs into the curl/flat defender’s zone, with the MLB following him and jumps to make a tough catch before taking a big hit from the curl/flat defender.
He displays strength at the catch point, concentration, and an ability to angle his body to shield the ball from contact.
The Giants had success with the slot fade to Tate several times in the season; you can see three examples in the two clips posted above, two examples of which result in touchdowns.
One came against the Patriots, which was the first passing touchdown let up in Foxborough, and the other against the Detroit Lions. Both were against man coverage, and both were excellent routes, good throws, and tough catches for Tate.
The coverage was tight on both and kudos to Jones for throwing Tate open against the Patriots, and for acknowledging the necessity for a back-shoulder throw against the Lions.
Tate and Jones developed a solid rapport throughout last season; a rapport I hope carries into the new system in 2020.
In the Dolphins rep, Patrick Graham has his defense in a Cover 3, with the field corner in conflict, due to two vertical stems from the receivers.
Tate bends his seam just behind the linebackers and right in front of the safety. Manning puts the ball into a really good spot for Tate to juggle through contact, secure the catch, and spin off of a hit for a touchdown.
Tate runs an excellent seam route in the above clip, and it honestly takes Jones a bit too long to throw the football.
Washington shows blitz and brings four rushers while dropping into a Cover 3 type defense. The middle of the field safety bites down very hard on the tight end seam, so Tate angles his seam to the vacated middle of the field.
The late throw allowed for the middle of the field safety to get back into position to hit Tate, who was able to secure the catch through the contact of two defenders while staying on his feet and gaining an extra few yards. If nothing else, Tate is toughness personified.
The Great: Savvy Player
Tate’s ability to run routes and find openings in zone coverage is elite.
We saw glimpses of it above against man coverage; he knows how to manipulate defenders and his timing when running routes is prompt. This maximizes a quarterback’s ability to have success and throw into wider windows.
Take the play above, for example. Tate sells the outside stem and gets the corner’s hips fully turned at around mid-field. He then sees Daniel Jones in trouble, and he’s aware of his space to the sideline, so he flows that direction, underneath the outside receiver’s route.
He runs away from the coverage to space, shows his hands, and makes the catch along the sidelines for a first down.
Jones struggled to throw into zone coverage throughout the beginning portions of the season, but Tate’s presence certainly helped.
Giants come out in a 3x1 set (with a tight end as one of the three to the field), and the Cardinals run zone coverage. Tate is the No. 2 receiver, and he runs directly between the hook zone defenders and sits at the sticks.
Tate knows that the void in the coverage is right in between the hashes, so he sells a vertical route and quickly turns to give Jones an easy target.
It's another first down, one of 30 that he recorded in 11 games.
The video below is similar, a second-and-10 situation where Tate can fall forward and pick up extra yards for a first down.
Cardinals show 2-high and play Cover 2 zone, so that’s five underneath defenders; the voids in the coverage in that area are a lot slimmer, but Tate cuts his route off right before the sticks to give himself, and Jones, a bit more room to maneuver.
Jones puts the pass on Tate on time, and Tate picks up more yards by falling backward through contact. Another good example of Tate’s ability to excel against zone coverage.
Above is another example of Tate taking advantage of a Cover 2 defense, this time it was against a Tampa-2 type of defense, where the MLB sinks to a deeper depth.
Tate recognizes this and cuts his route off at the sticks, right near the hash since the underneath defender faded outside. Tate is very quick with turning back to the quarterback and making himself a target for Danel Jones.
Per usual, Tate makes a defender miss a tackle and pick up a few extra yards for the offense.
Here’s another slot fade/seam route to Tate, just like the ones we witnessed before, only now it’s against Washington’s Cover 2 zone defense.
In a Cover 2 defense, the middle of the field is open, unlike Cover 1 man or Cover 3 zone. Once Tate clears his hook zone defender, he bends hard towards the middle of the field, because he recognizes the defense and knows where the space will be open.
He finds the open space and can pick up an extra 13 yards due to his ability to run routes, which must be accredited to his excellent mental processing.
Tate is the No. 2 receiver in the red zone here against the Lions. He runs a very nice pivot route where he sells the outside break, battles through the defender’s man coverage contact, and secures the catch before taking a big hit from the safety.
Again, toughness, reliability, and crisp route running describes Tate’s game well. If you slow the video down, Tate’s ability to plant his inside foot and turn so effortlessly is a testament to his underrated skill set as a route runner.
The Ugly: He’s almost 32
I’m not a big fan of using this as the ugly, but Tate’s traits make it hard to find something with which he significantly struggles.
He’s not a big receiver, so he’s not the “X” red zone threat that people love to have on their teams, but he’s very resilient over the middle of the field.
I would point to declining athletic ability, which I do believe there’s some merit to that, but then you watch him take the screen to the house against the Jets, and you can't help but think he still has good wheels.
This is going to be a big year for Tate’s career. I believe he is an invaluable asset to the Giants and gives Jones a nice security blanket.
But if he takes a step back in 2020, the Giants’ may feel it necessary to part ways with an older receiver making a solid chunk of change. So it's essential that Tate stays healthy and continues to do what he’s always done: Play tough, smart football, something that new coach Joe Judge has preached.
In 2021, the Giants can get out of Tate’s contract with only $5 million in dead money. The Giants are projected to have solid cap space next season (assuming the salary cap isn't impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic), but it’s unreasonable to think that this might be a course of action they explore.
Football is a young man’s game, and Tate is still playing like he’s young, plus he is wise beyond his years. Again, any setbacks in 2020 will not be good for one of the toughest receivers in the league.
(All clips via NFL Game Pass.)
