Maybe when Browns assistant coach Wilbert Montgomery said he wanted veteran Ben Tate to lead a young group of running backs, this might not have been what he had in mind.
Asked about the competition for the starting job with rookie Terrance West, Tate said he didn’t see it that way at all.
“Truthfully, I don’t look at it like that,’' Tate said , via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “You guys may see it like that, but there’s nobody in that room that scares me. I’m just honest.
“Honestly I’m not worried about that, because I know when I’m on my game -- no disrespect to any other running back here -- but there’s no one that can touch me or that’s close to what I do. I battled in and out every day with what some people consider the best running back in the league in Arian Foster [in Houston]. I’ve seen the best. I went against him every day. I battled it, so this around here to me is really not anything.”
That said, Tate is still mentoring West, a third-round pick from Towson State. But after battling for scraps and being ready just in case for four years, he’s ready to make a job his own.
And he’s not afraid to say so.