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Golden Tate has made it clear that he would like to return to the Seattle Seahawks. If contract negotiations go smoothly, Tate will continue to be able to work on his rapport with quarterback Russell Wilson. Tate showed flashes of brilliance for fantasy football players this season, but most players found him to be too inconsistent to start each week.
Although Tate has been in the NFL for several years, 2013 was the year that he became fantasy relevant. In 2013, He averaged 56 receiving yards a game, caught five receiving touchdowns, and had 898 receiving yards. The issue for fantasy players who owned Tate came down to his touchdown total. Wilson does not throw the ball enough for Tate to accumulate large fantasy totals from his receiving yards. Tate has only had three instances in his career in which he had 100 or more receiving yards in a game, but he only caught five touchdowns in 2013.
If he could have caught five more touchdowns, Tate would have had more points than Keenan Allen in standard scoring leagues. Five more touchdowns may seem like a significant increase, but Tate caught seven touchdowns in 2012.
Wilson only averaged 209 passing yards a game in 2013, so the need of Tate to catch touchdowns can not be stressed enough. Doug Baldwin dug into the overall totals of Tate with an average of 46 receiving yards per game, five touchdowns and 778 receiving yards. Sidney Rice also cut into the potential touchdown total of Tate with three receiving touchdowns, and fellow wide receiver Jermaine Kearse caught four touchdowns in the 2013 regular season.
Baldwin and Rice may not be back in Seattle in 2014, but Percy Harvin sure will be. Harvin looked like an absolute beast in the Super Bowl, and Tate will end up playing second fiddle to a healthy Harvin.
Assuming Tate stays with the Seahawks, he will need a healthy dose of touchdowns to become a consistent fantasy starter on your team. I do, however, feel that he is worth drafting to your roster. Depending on how deep your league is, I would wait to draft Tate until the 13th round or later in a 12 team league. If Harvin goes down with an injury, Wilson will look for the wide receiver that he had the best chemistry with in 2013. If not, you still will be able to plug Tate into a few good matchups next season.
Jack Delaney is a fantasy football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter at @jackbmore13, “Like” him on facebook, or add him to your network on Google
