Ahead of Tuesday’s 4 pm NFL trade deadline, the Lions traded wide receiver Golden Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles for a third-round pick.
The move gained traction over the last few days after Tate’s name started to emerge in trade rumors after it was reported by NFL.com that the Lions had been fielding offers from teams heading into today.
Via ESPN:
Tate signed with the Lions in free agency before the 2014 season — the first big splash signing of the Jim Caldwell era — and immediately became the team’s most consistent receiver. He has had 90 receptions in each of his four seasons with the Lions and was a 1,000-yard receiver in three of those years. This year, Tate is on pace for reaching both of those markers again, with 44 catches and 517 yards with three touchdowns.
Tate, who’s maybe thee most dangerous yardage after the catch receivers in the NFL heads to a 4-4 defending Super Bowl champion Eagles team who were amongst the original rumored suitors for Tate. The 30-year-old wide-out will serve as a compliment to Alshon Jeffery and serve as another option for Eagles QB Carson Wentz who tweeted out his excitement over the deal in its wake.
Let’s roll my man! Excited to compete with ya! #flyeaglesfly @ShowtimeTate https://t.co/Cy1pARU7HZ
— Carson Wentz (@cj_wentz) October 30, 2018
Lions GM Bob Quinn also provided a statement on Tate in the aftermath of the trade:
“On behalf of our entire organization, I would like to sincerely thank Golden for his countless contributions to our team during his time as a Detroit Lion,” he said. “For more than four years Golden displayed an unwavering commitment to not only his coaches and teammates, but also the City of Detroit. The impact he made on and off the field set an example for our team and serves as a testament to his character. We wish Golden and his family the very best in the next step of his career.”
And in addition to trading Tate, the Lions also restructured the deal of Marvin Jones saving $2.2 million underneath the cap.
Bottom line though this isn’t a bad move for either team. Sure it sucks for the Lions who give up their most productive receiver while still essentially in the hunt for the NFC North. However it’s not like they still don’t have options at the position.
We’ve gone over this before it seems with the Lions time and time again.
Matthew Stafford is good enough to make something out of nothing. They still have Marvin Jones and emerging Kenny Gollady plus Theo Riddick who they just signed to an extension in the offseason and matches up very closely to Tate in terms of his overall game. Plus Tate is on the wrong-side of 30 and will probably command more money than the Lions are willing to give him this offseason.
Essentially, Tate isn’t going to be getting any better from here on out. He’s probably going to start to trend downward.
