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Bengals 7th round pick Auden Tate “making a real run” at 53-man roster

Auden Tate turned plenty of heads during the Bengals’ minicamp. It could be enough to put him in the conversation for the 53-man roster.

By PatrickJudis@PatrickJudis  Jun 15, 2018, 3:00pm EDT
 
 

usa_today_10894910.0.jpgAaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

The Bengals ended their 2018 draft haul by bringing in Florida State wide receiver Auden Tate. He slipped due to his awful 40-yard dash time of 4.68 seconds as well as a shoulder injury that he played through in college. Plus, his college stats just weren’t that impressive.

 

I promise every team that picked past me because my “Shoulder Issue” gotta feel me in the future‼️ Believe That☝🏾💯

 
 
 

What makes Tate an intriguing college prospect regardless of all that is his 6’5” height and 228 pound frame. He was never known for running by defenders, instead he would just out jump them. He has already shown off that catch radius during Bengals minicamp, according to all those in attendance.

As Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com writes:

Seventh-round pick Auden Tate, the monstrous Florida State wide receiver and last of the Bengals’ 11 draft picks, is making a real run at the roster. At 6-5, 228 pounds Tate has caught everything despite his marginal 40 speed but there are no indications they’re moving him to H-Back. Asked about Tate’s catch radius by Bengals radio voice Dan Hoard, [John] Ross gave him a great future training camp bite with, “I think it’s ridiculous. It looks like the ball is always out of his reach, but it’s never out of reach for him.”

Your first reaction may be that it is only minicamp, and that is fair. It is still hard not to get caught up over a guy who is routinely wowing everyone watching him. It isn’t like it was just one play either. He did it all week and reporters were taking notice.

 

Rookie 7th round pick Auden Tate is noticeably slower than the other WRs but he has made two unreal, leaping, body-control catches for touchdowns in 1-on1 and 7-on-7 drills. #Bengals

 
 
 
 

Auden Tate does it again, out fights Will Jackson and hauls in tipped pass to get both feet down in the corner of end zone. #Bengals

 
 
 

The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about him as a highlight of the week, too.

From Thursday:

Auden Tate again proved how he can be a physical presence in the red zone, beating William Jackson III’s great coverage in the corner with strong hands. Jackson III nearly broke the ball up, but Tate secured the ball and got both feet in. It was an exclamation point on a strong minicamp for the seventh-round pick.

And from Tuesday:

Auden Tate told everyone when he was drafted he could high-point a ball, and he showed that off on Tuesday. The seventh-round pick excelled in red zone situations and made some “wow” grabs that even had Andy Dalton asking a camera crew if they caught one reception on video.

As a fan you always want to exercise caution when talking about a seventh round pick for the Bengals making the 53-man roster. That’s especially true in the last two years when the Bengals had 11 draft picks in each class. Tate is also stuck at a position with some intense competition. Last year the Bengals had seven receivers on their roster, which was an extremely rare occurrence; typically only six receivers make the cut. The team has guys like A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd and John Ross who are essentially locks to make the roster. That means Tate is competing with guys like Brandon LaFell, Alex Erickson, Josh Malone, Cody Core and Ka’Raun White. That isn’t insurmountable by any means, but LaFell, Erickson, Malone and Core have NFL experience and Bengals experience.

 

Having that redzone threat ability adds a huge amount of value to Tate overall. Is that enough to earn him a roster spot? Probably not by itself. It will be interesting if the team gives him a shot to line up in a slot-type role like they do with their tight ends. I can imagine his catch radius being valuable on seem routes that they often throw to Tyler Eifert. Although, he has to show the ability to run other routes from that position, too. You will see people suggesting he move to tight end because of his size, but making him a slot guy is a shorter way of getting there.

The Bengals could even run back shoulder routes for him near the sideline. It would be similar to what they did with Marvin Jones when he was with the team. Although, Jones was obviously more athletic than Tate.

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I actually asked Morrison on twitter if there was any chance the Bengals might think about using Tate some at TE. He said he hadn't heard any discussion from the team about that, so, I am guessing just a pipedream from me. Just seems like with his hands and size and relative slow speed that maybe he could run some of the Eifert routes should Eifert be unavailable as usual. Guess not. 

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3 hours ago, membengal said:

I actually asked Morrison on twitter if there was any chance the Bengals might think about using Tate some at TE. He said he hadn't heard any discussion from the team about that, so, I am guessing just a pipedream from me. Just seems like with his hands and size and relative slow speed that maybe he could run some of the Eifert routes should Eifert be unavailable as usual. Guess not. 

Who is Morrison? You mean Hobson?

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10 hours ago, Jupiter Fan said:

Who is Morrison? You mean Hobson?

Yeah, tis' the most wonderful time of year, but if this guy pans out as a big target possession receiver he could stick because we have some meh WRs we could get away from.  Maybe Brandon LeFell's time is at hand for younger/cheaper.  The fact that this guy caught a TD over WJIII is a bit of an eyebrow raiser.

 

And Morrison used to sing for The Doors and get arrested a lot.  He died.

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And this is why I wanted the Bengals to draft Vincent Jackson back in 2006. At 6' 5" 240 lbs, he ran a 4.39 40 and had a 39 inch vertical at the combine. He'd have been Auden Tate with speed. As it was, the Chargers drafted him and Phillip Rivers hasn't been the same after he went to Tampa Bay.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/15/2018 at 5:21 PM, membengal said:

I actually asked Morrison on twitter if there was any chance the Bengals might think about using Tate some at TE. He said he hadn't heard any discussion from the team about that, so, I am guessing just a pipedream from me. Just seems like with his hands and size and relative slow speed that maybe he could run some of the Eifert routes should Eifert be unavailable as usual. Guess not. 

Starting to think there's a greater probability we see Tate @ TE for the Bengals than Eifert.

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9 minutes ago, Bunghole said:

They could always just assign him a TE position in name only and play him as a wideout...but then who do you cut among the TE's to make room? Uzomah?

Doubtful, if we are still not totally sure about the offensive line and working to establish a viable and consistent running attack. 

 

I just don’t see keeping a fringe wideout with no speed at the expense of a decent blocking tight end. 

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17 hours ago, PatternMaster said:

A 4.68 isn't that slow, Jerry Rice ran a 4.71. Not saying he's going to be a Jerry Rice type of player but running a relatively slow 40 doesn't preclude you from having a NFL career. 

 

If you saw him play in college then it was evident that he could compete at the NFL level.

I hope you’re right, my man. The more quality competition at as many positions, the better the team will be. 

 

I hope the guy sticks...I like underdogs with a chip on their shoulders. The dude certainly has size, let’s hope he has the brains to learn the game at a different level.

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1 hour ago, thezerawkid said:

I hope you’re right, my man. The more quality competition at as many positions, the better the team will be. 

 

I hope the guy sticks...I like underdogs with a chip on their shoulders. The dude certainly has size, let’s hope he has the brains to learn the game at a different level.

I read somewhere that he was being compared to a young Brandon Marshall in OTAs, that is an apt comparison in my opinion.

 

If Tate would have stayed another year he could have been much higher pick, remember that FSU lost their starting QB in the first game of the season and Tate had true freshman at QB and a HC that had one foot out of the door, but he still caught 10 TDs vs NFL level competition in the ACC.

 

Go to the 2:00 minute mark and watch him make a very impressive catch over a first round pick Jaire Alexander.

 

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15 minutes ago, westside bengal said:

Speed isn't everything just ask John Ross.......

Exactly, I would rather have a guy with wide catch radius that can make contested catches, run dig routes across the middle, and is match up nightmare in the red zone than a guy that just runs fast... but can't catch, hold on to the ball after the catch, break a tackle, run multiple routes, get off the line of scrimmage vs press coverage, etc....

 

In the NFL the majority of catches are contested, so if a WR is comfortable making those types of catches I think that's an advantage.

 

Willie Gault was a world class sprinter but he wasn't anywhere near Jerry Rice as a football player..but Gault would smoke Rice in a race.

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20 hours ago, PatternMaster said:

Exactly, I would rather have a guy with wide catch radius that can make contested catches, run dig routes across the middle, and is match up nightmare in the red zone than a guy that just runs fast... but can't catch, hold on to the ball after the catch, break a tackle, run multiple routes, get off the line of scrimmage vs press coverage, etc....

 

In the NFL the majority of catches are contested, so if a WR is comfortable making those types of catches I think that's an advantage.

 

Willie Gault was a world class sprinter but he wasn't anywhere near Jerry Rice as a football player..but Gault would smoke Rice in a race.

This is a good point.  Its not like Drew Brees or Tom Brady is the guy throwing the passes.   Andy isn't  horribly inaccurate but Green has had to make plenty of circus catches in his day.  The guy has the size to play from the slot and only needs to be open for a second. 

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