Philadelphia Eagles: Golden Tate to the Giants is a best-case scenario
While the Philadelphia Eagles’ decision to trade for Golden Tate looks foolish in hindsight, his decision to sign with the New York Giants feels like poetic justice.
What will Golden Tate‘s legacy be in Philadelphia?
Will fans remember him fondly for catching that pivotal fourth-quarter touchdown that helped the Philadelphia Eagles squeaked past the Chicago Bears in the playoffs, or will they instead lament giving up a third-round pick for a wide receiver who only caught 37 balls on 57 targets for 342 yards and two touchdowns?
To me, the ‘Golden Tate’-era already feels like a weird fever dream of a team desperately attempting to return to the postseason despite having a deeply flawed roster.
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However, soon we will remember Tate for an entirely different reason: as the wide receiver the New York Giants signed to replace Odell Beckham Jr.
Man, that’s rough.
According to Adam Schefter, the Giants have locked up the ex-Lions slot receiver into a four-year, $37.5 million deal with $23 million guaranteed. On paper, that’s not a bad deal for a player of Tate’s pedigree, as he’s now the 17th highest paid wide receiver in the league, but after watching him play last season, should he really be in line for a bigger payday than DeSean Jackson?
Apparently, in Dave Gettleman‘s eyes, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.
Gettleman wanted Tate so much that he was willing to forfeit a fifth-round compensatory pick and handed Philadelphia a fourth-round compensatory pick just to bring him into the fold, a move that directly flies in the face of a proper rebuild.
When the regular season begins, Tate will be 31, seven years younger than his new team’s starting quarterback. Now going all in in an attempt to squeeze one final championship run out of an aging quarterback does have some merit, just ask Payton Manning, but his younger brother has looked like a shell of himself for seasons, even with a loaded collection of offensive weapons like Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram.
Will swapping out Beckham for Tate do anything to roll back Eli Manning‘s clock and make the Giants’ offense potent for the first time in years? I highly doubt it.
No, the Giants look like they will be a really, really bad team again in 2019 and will continue to struggle to even sniff at the postseason until they can settle on a young, high upside corp to build around.
Locking up Tate until he’s 36-years old flies directly in the face of that philosophy, and even if they were to release him after two years when his guaranteed money will be all but spent the move is no less questionable.
Why not outbid the Indianapolis Colts to lock up Devin Funchess on a one-year deal, for, say, $14 million? Sure, he’s not as good as Tate right now, but he still has upside.
But no, the Giants are somehow trying to have their cake and eat it too, but will in all likelihood end up at the bottom of the standings come January, preparing to pick atop the NFL Draft once more.
Simply put, the only real winner in this deal is the Philadelphia Eagles.
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After declaring that “My time is limited. I want to go to a team that has a chance. I don’t want to go to somewhere that’s trying to rebuild…. I want to win now.” in an interview with Geoff Mosher, Golden Tate’s decision to sign with the New York Giants is beyond confusing.