Many novice dynasty owners spend the majority of their time ranking their top 10 players for their upcoming rookie drafts. Â While this is certainly important, the real work begins after the top tier talent is off the board. Â I mean, really, it’s not too hard to take Ryan Mathews, Dez Bryant or Sam Bradford as the first player from their respective position pools. Â In this series of articles, we take a closer look at some of the more difficult rookie player decisions facing dynasty owners. Â Today, it’s a debate between Golden Tate and Arrelious Benn. Â We break it down using a number of important factors.
Size
Benn = 6’1″ 219
Tate = 5’10” 199
Benn is just shy of the “prototypical” desired size for a WR. What gave him an edge over most college defenders was his strength. He carries his weight well and his muscle mass certainly doesn’t impede his speed or quickness.
Tate, on the other hand, doesn’t come close to having prototypical size. Unfortunately for him, you can’t really teach someone to grow. Â He makes up for his lack of size with an above average ability to run after the catch, though. It’s not that serious of an issue for him.
Advantage: Benn
Speed
Benn = 4.59 40
Tate = 4.42 40
This metric is incredibly difficult to judge. Â On tape, Benn seems to play faster than his time, while Tate seems to play slower. Â I believe Golden Tate owes his training team a huge debt of gratitude as he looked as prepared as any WR I’ve ever seen at the combine. Â Most expected him to run in the midto-late 4.5s to solidify himself as a 2nd rounder and he ran in the low 4.4s – simply amazing. Many expected that to vault him into the 1st round, but scouts wisely looked more at game film.
Meanwhile, Benn ran a poor 40 at the combine. Â Most forget, however, that he had a tremendous pro day and knocked his time down into the 4.4s. Â You take that with a grain of salt, but that’s more like the Benn you’re used to seeing on the field.
Slight Advantage: Tate
Situation
Benn = Tampa Bay (pick #39 overall)
Tate = Seattle (pick #60 overall)
Arrelious Benn hit the jackpot on this one. Â With the release of Antonio Bryant prior to the draft, the Bucs had Sammie Stroughter as their #1 WR – that’s really not going to cut it. Â Demaryius Thomas may be the only player with a more clear path to a starting job than anyone in this class. Â Throw a developing Josh Freeman into the mix, and Benn has to be a very happy man.
Tate’s path to opportunity is, well, not quite as golden. Â Seattle has been looking for a solid wideout since the Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson years. Â Deion Branch has been a bust and the other WRs they have are pedestrian at best. Â Tate will most certainly get his chances early, but the Seattle QB situation has to be considered. Matt Hasselbeck is looking old all of a sudden, and Charlie Whitehurst wasn’t that impressive in college. Â He’ll get his chance for sure, but there are going to be some serious growing pains in the Emerald City.
Slight Advantage: Benn
Durability
No real issues here.
Advantage: Push
Character
For once, we have no real significant diva behavior from two different WRs. Â It’s almost disappointing.
Advantage: Push
Production
Benn = 38/490/2
Tate = 93/1,496/15
Here we go. Â This one’s not even close. Â Tate benefited from an NFL caliber signal caller in Jimmy Clausen, while Benn dealt with some guy named Juice. Â The biggest question anyone must ask themselves with Arrelious Benn is, “How much can poor QB play account for his lack of production?” Â It’s a very valid question. Â It seems like an elite WR in college could overcome a poor QB and get SO open that it doesn’t matter. Â That connection just didn’t happen, though. Â That offense was absolutely dreadful, however. When you look at the film on Benn, he passes the eye test. Â You just wonder what the numbers would look like if these two swapped collegiate helmets for a year. Â My money’s on a total reversal.
Advantage: Tate
CONCLUSION
A draft day debate of Benn vs. Tate.
A call so tough, it’s first out of the gate.
There’s much to debate, but don’t hesitate.
You now have the data for Benn vs. Tate.
The numbers say Golden.
He’s not the next Boldin.
I say it’s Tate.
What a draft day debate!
This should be enough to give you a quorum.
If you’re still on the fence, get some advice on our forum.
Thanks for putting DLF to good use.
Stay here too long and you’ll sound like a Seuss.
Writing this poem was a little less serious.
I just find myself wishing something rhymed with Arrelious.
Join us next time for more draft debate joy.
You’ll find yourself pondering Tebow vs. McCoy.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
Good breakdown. Love the poem.
Great insight Ken; getting a little tipsy toward the end??? Lol
T.J. Houshmandzadeh is ‘pedestrian, at best?’ And, if we’re adding surrounding WR talent into the mix, it has to be added for both sides. What does TB have at WR opposite Benn? A rookie in Mike Williams and the aforementioned Sammy Stroughter and Maurice Stovall. So, TB actually has less to work with than Seattle does, certainly not more. At least Seattle has one quality, experienced wideout in T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Seattle has not been looking for a WR since the Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson years…are they?
I don’t see how you can say there will be more growing pains in Seattle than Tampa. A first-year signal caller and two rookie wideouts doesn’t sound like it will be absent growing pains. Any more than in Seattle.
Thanks for the post Misfit!
I live in the Seattle area and follow the Seahawks a lot. Perhaps the bitter taste I have in my mouth from their recent performances skews things a little, but I still obviously view Houshmandzadeh a little lower than you do, but I think we;re looking at things differently.
Tate has a chance to play pretty quickly. More quickly than most rookie WRs, but certianly not more quickly than Benn. The fact that TB has such an empty cupboard works to the advantage of Benn, more than his disadvantage.
Seattle is going into the year without a clear-cut future starter. The growing pains I see are a switch in QB mid-year to a relatively unproven player who wasn’t that highly regarded in college. At the very least, Benn is going to be able to develop chemistry with a QB who is likely to be there for some time.
Good debate!
