Golden Tate

What makes Tate so great?  YAC baby - Yards After Catch.  Coach Pete Carroll loves Golden Tate, as indicated by picking him up in the second-round.  Tate is a big play threat and can turn a simple swing pass into a 70-yard touchdown in the blink of an eye.  He will likely line up opposite T.J. Houshmandzadeh as the No. 2 receiver by Week 3 or 4, and though veteran Deion Branch has the inside track on Tate at this point, Branch hasn’t played a full season since 2005 and has been a big bust for Seattle.  Carroll has indicated that he wants to get Tate the ball and will probably have him returning kicks from the get-go.

~ Seattle’s QB situation is in flux, as veteran Matt Hasselbeck is on his way out and fourth-year Charlie Whitehurst, who hasn’t thrown a regular season pass in his career, is knocking on the doorstep

~ Housh and Branch are low quality No. 1 and No. 2 receivers respectively, and both have been subpar since coming to Seattle, so Tate will get a chance to show what he can do in the open field

There are many things that are golden in life: the Golden Gate Bridge, the Golden Girls, the city of Golden, Colorado.  Then there’s Golden Tate.  Tate isn’t as tall as the bridge, hot as the girls, or as cold as the town (where the Coors Brewing Co. factory is - he’s definitely not as cold as the Rockies), but that’s not to suggest he’s a lesser being.  The second-round pick electrified crowds during his three years at Notre Dame and often played larger than his stature.

Even though his hobbit size of 5’10” is a lot shorter than many big-time wide receivers, Tate has a knack of going up and getting a ball when he commits to it.  His speed (he ran a 4.42 40 at the Combine) allows him to get open with just the slightest hesitation on the cornerback’s part.  What’s impressive is that he set school records for receptions and receiving yards in a season last year with 93 receptions for 1,496 yards and 15 touchdowns.  His big play ability in the open field makes him dangerous against any team… and marching band.

This is not fantasy related in any way, but we just had to put this in. Tate has already made headlines as a Seahawk before even stepping onto the field for two reasons.  Firstly, he robbed a doughnut store in the basement of his condo complex at 3 a.m. in June because he was drunk and needed some delicious maple bars.  He got off with a warning from the police, and received even less from his coach who deadpanned this, "No, I'm not disappointed at a guy being at a doughnut shop at 3 in the morning when they got maple bars like Top Pot has."  For the record, Carroll did end up reprimanding him.  

For those conspiracy theorists out there, Top Pot Donuts sells donuts at Seahawks' games. 

Secondly, Tate loves singing to some Taylor Swift (nothing wrong with that).  Something tells us that he's not going to be the next American Idol though.

Down 14 points with 7.5 seconds left in regulation in a high school game, Tate scored a touchdown to cut the lead to seven, recovers the onside kick, and then this happens to #23...

Thought it might be a good idea to throw some actual collegiate highlights on here...

Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) can be followed on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/ShowtimeTate

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In late July, Tate signed a four-year, $3.261 million contract that included $1.471 million guaranteed and a $1 million signing bonus.  The terms of the deal have yet to be made public:

2010 - Under Contract

2011 - Under Contract

2012 - Under Contract

2013 - Under Contract

2014 - Free Agent

If you happen to have either T.J. Houshmandzadeh or Deion Branch on your team, you'll definitely want to handcuff Golden to them as he might even end up Seattle's leading fantasy receiver by the end of the season

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