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

[Whatever]

(06-04-2020, 03:53 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: How much of this was on the accuracy of the QB though? I saw Auden make some circus catches last year where the throw was just
terribly inaccurate. Plus AJ and Ross haven't been able to stay healthy which is where Auden gains his relevance here.

Auden Tate was tied for the second lowest catch % on the Bengals last year.  Mind you, that's not just among WR's.  That's among all players that were targeted with passes.  The catch % for the entire team was 60.4%.  Tate's was 50%.  The only player with a worse catch % on the team was Stanley Morgan.

Tate catches passes at a rate over 10% worse than the team as a whole.  You can't blame the QB for a guy who's making catches at a less than average rate compared to his teammates.

The reality if you look at his highlights is that most of these spectacular grabs are back shoulder throws where Tate is smothered by the defender and the QB is forced to throw away from the defender.  They look more spectacular because he likes to jump and rotate in the air rather than break down and use his feet to adjust his body position.  But he's making highlight reel grabs because he can't get the separation to to make routine looking ones.