Purple Reign?
Ben Tate wasn’t left in the unemployment line for long as the Minnesota Vikings claimed him on waivers today. With the Adrian Peterson saga not likely to be over any time soon, Minnesota decided to be in the market. While most thought Tate would likely only end up on a perceived contender, the move seems to make sense on a few different levels.
The really surprising thing to me was the immediate reaction on Twitter as questions started coming in in regards to Jerick McKinnon, with some even thinking he was someone to consider dropping now. In short, the answer there is a very distinct “no,” regardless of your league format.
With some confusion seemingly brewing out there in regards to the current value of the players affected by this move, let’s break them down one-by-one.
Ben Tate, RB MIN
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Make no mistake, the Vikings aren’t bringing in Tate and thinking he’s the heir apparent to Adrian Peterson. To me, this looks like a team willing to take a shot on a player who has shown both flashes of greatness and a tendency to get hurt. Couple that with the feeling he was a malcontent in Cleveland and you end up with a pretty good dart throw.
Tate has shown talent as a downhill runner for sure, but his season had not gone anywhere near what he planned. In fact, he’s averaging just 3.1 yards per carry on the year, including just 1.7 yards per carry over his past five games. In short, he hasn’t looked anything like the prospect we saw in Houston a few years back when he ran for nearly 1,000 yards and looked like a future star in dynasty leagues.
A fresh start will be good for Tate and you could certainly make the case his value is on the upswing after the Browns clearly decided Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell were better options and cut him. However, thinking he’s going to come into the Twin Cities and be immediately inserted as the starter over the likes of Jerick McKinnon should prove to be wishful thinking.
Tate should be able to take the short yardage work and rotate in with McKinnon, giving the Vikings a good look at what he can do. With nothing guaranteed beyond this season, they can easily just cut him at the end of the year and move on. If they like what they see, they could look to pair him with McKinnon moving forward. In short, this is a nice little audition for Tate to prove he can stay healthy, be productive and prove to everyone the problem in Cleveland wasn’t his sudden lack of ability or explosiveness.
Of course, all of this won’t matter much in the long-term for Tate if Adrian Peterson returns to the Vikings next year. Envisioning the Vikings keeping Tate, Peterson and McKinnon seems unlikely.
Jerick McKinnon, RB MIN
The dynasty value of McKinnon really doesn’t change much with Tate in town. Sure, he has a more talented back breathing down his neck, but that’s just life in the NFL. McKinnon has proven to be a very effective runner, but we also don’t know just how durable he is or if he can truly be a long-term every down player. He’s dinged up at the moment and that gave the Vikings another reason to bring Tate in.
At best, Tate is going to be seen as a complement to McKinnon this season. By no means do I think the Vikings are looking at him to be their starter and replace McKinnon this year or beyond. There’s really no reason to downgrade McKinnon based on this. If you do, you’re likely doing so based on Tate’s “name value” and not his current production.
Matt Asiata, RB MIN
The player most likely hurt by this move is Matt Asiata. Â The “Purple Sloth” has had some good games here and there, but he also tends to look like “just a guy” every time he plays. In short, he lacks explosiveness or dynamic ability. His game lines are all over the place and even though he’s scored a ton of fantasy points, we have yet to see anything to make us believe he can be consistent in any way, shape or form. The addition of Tate will likely make those big games even harder to predict.
Tate should give Asiata a run at major playing time and if the Vikings really had faith in a McKinnon / Asiata platoon in the long run, I don’t think they would have brought Tate into the fold. In short, I believe this signing of Tate is more of an indictment on Asiata and acceptance they’ve lost Peterson for the year than any lack of faith in the ability of McKinnon.
Adrian Peterson, RB MIN
This move really changes nothing in terms of Peterson’s value. Again, it’s not like the Vikings all of a sudden have a viable replacement for Peterson and are willing to move on from him. If anything, they certainly believe Peterson won’t play for them again this year and are taking a shot at a player who was once highly coveted. If it works out, great. Â If not, they cut Tate and move on next season. Regardless, the Peterson saga is something completely unaffected by this move.
Trent Richardson, RB IND
I’m including Richardson in this post because many were thinking (and hoping) Tate would land with the Colts since they just lost Ahmad Bradshaw for the season. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and this gives his Richardson what equates to one final chance to be a productive running back in both reality and fantasy.
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Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
