Giants Add Golden Tate, Josiah Tauaefa to Roster

Let's get you caught up on the comings and goings made by the Giants Tuesday.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Oct 1, 2019 1:55 PM EDT

The Giants didn't bother taking advantage of a one-week roster exemption for receiver Golden Tate.

Instead, they added him straight away to the 53-man roster following the completion of his league-mandated four-game suspension for a PED violation.

In addition to adding Tate, the Giants signed rookie linebacker Josiah Tauefa from their practice squad and released receivers TJ Jones and Bennie Fowler to create room on the 53-man roster, and signed linebacker Devante Downs to the practice squad.

Tate, a 10-year veteran, has 611 receptions, 7,214 yards and 38 touchdowns in his NFL career, and has caught at least 90 passes in every season from 2014-2017 with the Lions.

In 10 career games against the Vikings, this weekend's opponents, Tate, whose career included stops with Seattle, Detroit, and Philadephia, has 50 receptions, his second-highest total against any opponent.

Tauaefa, who signed as an undrafted rookie free agent out of the University of Texas-San Antonio, was the Giants preseason leader in tackles with 16, 10 solo. He also posted one sack and recovered a fumble.

Fowler, whom the Giants acquired mid-year last season, had 12 catches for 99 yards this season, and 1 rushing attempt for 20 yards. Overall, he appeared in 14 games as a Giant with 7 starts and caught 28 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown.

Jones, who initially didn't make the Giants' 53-man roster out of training camp, re-signed with the Giants on September 11. He appeared in three games, catching three passes for 38 yards and a touchdown, but his primary role was as the team's punt returner.

In that role, Jones returned eight punts for 96 yards (12.0 avg) including a long of 60 yards.

However, Jones, who struggled with ball security int he preseason, began to experience that same issue in his last two games, muffing three punts.

Tate is expected to replace Jones as the Giants punt returner starting this weekend. In 137 career games in which he's returned punts, Tate has 97 returns for 987 yards 910.2 avg) and has 13 returns of 20+ yards.

The Giants return to work Wednesday to begin preparing for this weekend's game against the Vikings.

Update: The Giants also added receiver Da'Mari Scott to their practice squad. Scott had been with the team in the summer but had requested his release once the Giants started getting some of their injured receivers back healthy.

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