Wide receiver Golden Tate won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks last season, but he’s going to be in Detroit this season after signing with the Lions as a free agent.
It wasn’t hard to understand why Tate decided to change teams and if it was Tate has been more than happy to explain his reasons. After signing with the Lions, he said there wasn’t much of a comparison in terms of the salary offered by his former team. That wasn’t all of it, though. Tate explained the difference in his role with the two teams on ESPN on Monday.
“I hated being tackled [last year] because I didn’t know when my next ball was going to come. I have a chance to catch more balls and make Pro Bowls,” Tate said, via MLive.com. “I think if I can stay healthy, God forbid, it’s going to be fun. I have a chance to catch a ton more balls. I’m going to see a lot of single coverage. I’m probably going to see a lot of No. 2 and No. 3 cornerbacks because everyone’s going to be on No. 81 [Calvin Johnson]. I’m excited. I think the sky’s the limit. I think it’s going to get back to the old Golden.”
Given how often the Lions are expected to put the ball in the air this season, Tate should have plenty of opportunities to make good on the location change. Tate and the rest of the Lions receivers spent much of the spring learning new offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi’s offense so that they would be ready to hit the ground running in training camp and the preseason. We’ll find out soon if that’s the case and what Detroit’s offense will look like in 2014.