Let's not sleep on Auden Tate in the WR mix

[Whatever]

(06-04-2020, 07:49 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Can we drop the "he's big and slow" narrative?  When you portray that, it's almost like you're attempt to paint him as some overweight, lumbering OL.. 

4.68 isn't slow, just means he's not as quick out of the blocks.  He's a long stride runner, and has as good of a top speed as any player on the field.  He can counter that lack of exceptional short are quickness, by working hard on running precise routes, and using his size and exceptional body control to win the battle for the ball.

If opposing DCs and DBs discount him as much as you do, I'd say that he'll have a productive season.

https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?f=Auden&l=Tate&i=28241

He doesn't have good top end speed, though.  When you look at Tate's percentiles by position, he's in the 21st percentile in the 10 yard split and the 14th percentile in the overall 40.  Now, those are both terrible numbers, but he's actually better at the start than he is running full speed.  Darrin Simmons has also acknowledged this, stating that he can't use him in roles you would typically use a WR on ST's in due to his lack of speed.  He's not a guy with build up speed.  He's just slow.

What's also interesting is he has 6 QB's in his list of 10 combine profiles that match him the closest and one of them is Carson Palmer.