Lions confident they can replace traded WR Tate
The Detroit Lions made a forward-looking decision to trade Golden Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday, but head coach Matt Patricia said that in no way signals they’re giving up on the here and now.
“I think the biggest point for me to make sure everybody understands is this also shows a lot of confidence in the people that are in that room,” Patricia said. “There’s great players in that room, and there’s a lot of them, and there’s a lot of guys that have opportunity to make plays and go out there and play at a high level. And we’re all good with that from that standpoint.”
Tate led the Lions in receptions in each of his four seasons in Detroit, and with 44 catches in seven games this year, he was on pace for a career-high in the category.
But the Lions’ decision to move Tate at the trade deadline came down to three simple factors.
First, Tate was in the final year of his contract and scheduled to become a free agent in March. Though both he and the Lions expressed an interest in getting an extension done, that never seemed likely to happen, especially with Tate saying he wanted a fair-market deal.
Second, the Lions got a great return on what is perhaps an eight-game rental: A 2019 third-round draft pick.
The Lions might have been able to secure a compensatory pick in 2020 had Tate signed elsewhere as a free agent, but with their own free-agent shopping to do this offseason, there was no guarantee that was going to happen.
And by getting a third-round pick in next year’s draft, the Lions can hasten their rebuild of a defense that lacks playmakers at all three levels. The Lions now have nine picks in next year’s draft, including extra choices in the sixth and seventh rounds. They did not have a third-round pick before the deal as they previously traded that to move up and draft Da’Shawn Hand.
Finally, the Lions have confidence in two unheralded receivers who’ve played sparingly this year, TJ Jones and Brandon Powell. Jones played admirably as a fill-in for an injured Kenny Golladay last year, while Powell was the gem of the Lions’ undrafted free-agent class.
“I think it’s important for us when we evaluate everything that we do (it) as a franchise,” Patricia said. “I think there’s certain value that we can get at times during the season that will help us long term, and we obviously have faith and confidence in the people that are on this team right now. So we put all that into play and try to make sure that we’re making the best decision that we can in that moment.”
SERIES HISTORY: 114th regular-season meeting. Vikings lead series, 72-39-2. The Lions have won three of the last four games, with one memorable meeting coming at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016, when Matthew Stafford drove the Lions 35 yards in 23 seconds without a timeout for the game-tying 58-yard field goal, then found Golden Tate for the game-winning touchdown pass on the first drive of overtime.
