Irish in the NFL: Golden Tate Should Have a Bounce-Back Year in Fantasy
By J.P. Scott
In 2019, former Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate should see his stats back up to where they’ve normally been in his career.
Few NFL players have been as consistently productive over the last five seasons as former Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate. From 2014 through 2017, Tate was one of only two receivers in the league to catch 90 or more balls in that span. The other was Antonio Brown.
In 2018, Tate fell victim to a coaching change in Detroit, which subsequently led to a struggling offense. He was traded to the Eagles midway through the season. In Philadelphia, he found another offense unable to play to its full potential — largely due to injury — and found himself in a role where he wasn’t exactly a priority.
2019 should be different.
Now a member of the New York Giants, Golden Tate enters a situation where the offense has nowhere to go but up. The Giants have made improvements on the offensive line, have a running back in Saquon Barkley who keeps defenses honest, and a tight end in Evan Engram who draws extra attention over the middle.
And let’s not forget about the loss of Odell Beckham Jr.
As it stands, Tate is now the most experienced and historically dependable receiving option the New York Giants have on the roster. Regardless of whether it’s Eli Manning or Daniel Jones under center, knowing they have Golden Tate out there working the field is going to be a nice feeling, and he’s going to get plenty of targets as a result.
Additionally, the Giants defense is not expected to be great, so there will be ample offensive possessions.
FantasyPros.com agrees with this assessment. On Friday, they listed Tate as one of 12 “bounce-back” fantasy players for the 2019 NFL season. They cited his consistency and the loss of Beckham as reasons why we should expect Tate to return to his 90 catch-per-season form.
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If you are looking for a late flyer in traditional leagues or a steal in auctions, Tate is a low-risk, high reward investment. And he’s a Notre Dame guy, which doesn’t hurt.