20/20: Auden Tate

Bruce Matson

Welcome to the 20/20 series. As part of our continued Dynasty Scouts coverage and in preparation for the NFL Combine, we will be profiling 20 of the top incoming rookies of the class of 2018 by giving you 20 facts you must know.

1.) Player Name – Auden Tate

2.) College – Florida State

3.) Height/Weight – 6’5’’, 225 lbs

4.) Birth date – 2/3/1997 (21 years old)

5.) Class – Junior

6.) Basic college stats – 2016: 25 receptions for 409 yards and six touchdowns. 2017: 40 receptions for 548 yards and ten touchdowns.

7.) NFL Draft round projection – Tate is projected to be a day two pick in this year’s draft. He should be selected anywhere between the second and third round, making him a top-100 pick.

8.) Current NFL comp – Brandon Marshall comes to mind when I watch Tate play. Both players are big, physical wide receivers who excel at making tough contested catches downfield. Like Marshall, Tate does a very good job of using his size and leaping ability to out-jump defenders at the catch point.

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9.) Best possible destination – If for some reason, Donte Moncrief doesn’t re-sign with the Colts, then Indianapolis might be the best possible destination for Tate. He would have T.Y. Hilton lining up on the other side of the field and taking the top off the defense. That could create extra space for him to run underneath routes. Hilton would relieve a lot of pressure off of Tate’s shoulders early in his career. Plus, he would be tethered to Andrew Luck who has the potential to elevate Tate’s game.

If Moncrief decides to stay in Indy, then the Baltimore Ravens would be another solid situation. They are in need of young talent at receiver and Tate could possibly receive a sizeable role early in his career. Veteran wide receiver Mike Wallace is set to hit free agency this off-season, which could leave a hole on the depth chart. There’s plenty of opportunity on the roster for Tate to carve out a productive career with the Ravens.

10.) Worst possible destination – Tampa Bay would be a horrible landing spot for him. He would be a redundant asset, considering Mike Evans has a similar skill set. Chris Godwin is emerging as the team’s WR2 and his target share should increase next year. On top of that, the team drafted a tight end, O.J. Howard, in the first-round last year and his presence in the offensive game plan should only expand going forward.

11.) Best current skill – Tate is tremendous at out-jumping the defender and catching the football at its highest point. He’s technically always open because even when he’s covered, he can use his body to box out the defender. By doing this, he creates separation to make a move for the football.

12.) Skill that needs to be improved – Most wide receiver prospects are not perfect route runners and usually can’t run a full route tree coming out of college. Tate falls in line with this demographic. He needs to develop into a more technical route runner and diversify his route tree. If he can improve his route running, he could possibly become one of the top wide receivers in the NFL.

13.) Past/current rookie ADP – With a February rookie ADP of 14.10, Tate is usually the seventh wide receiver off the board in most rookie drafts, making him a mid-second round pick.

14.) Projected dynasty value – Tate is one of the top wide receivers in this year’s draft, but right now, he currently has an ADP of 109.8. He’s going off the board around the tenth round in startup drafts. Depending on landing spot, his value should hover around the mid-to-late rounds in startup drafts throughout the off-season. From there, his performance during his rookie season will dictate his value. He’s only 21 years old and his value should be insulated for a few years, preventing him from completely dropping off the map if he has a slow start to his career.

15.) Recruiting profile– He was a four-star recruit out of high school and according to 247Sports, the 30th-ranked wide receiver in his recruiting class. He received at least 25 different offer letters. Some of the schools trying to recruit him were Michigan, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida, and Georgia.

16.) High School production – 2012 (sophomore): 27 receptions for 401 yards and two touchdowns. 2013 (junior): 49 receptions for 815 and five touchdowns. 2014 (senior): 11 receptions for 123 yards.

17.) Production woes – In the last two seasons, Tate has only caught 65 passes for 957 yards and 16 touchdowns. During his junior season, he was second on the team in receiving behind Nyqwan Murray. Tate experienced less-than-optimal quarterback play during the majority of his career at Florida State. Deondre Francois missed almost the entire season due to a patella tendon injury which caused the team to start the freshman quarterback, James Blackman, for the rest of the season. Florida State also ranked 96th in the nation with 345 pass attempts. Bad quarterback play combined with a low volume passing offense were the main reasons why Tate didn’t finish last season as one of the most productive receivers in the nation.

18.) The 2014 Nike SPARQ Combine – At the Nike SPARQ Combine, Tate measured in at 6-foot-4 and weighed 206-pounds. Although he did not run the 40-yard dash, he still ran a 4.31 20-yard dash and performed a 30.8 vertical jump.

19.) Advanced stats – Tate had an 18.31 percent target share in Florida State’s passing offense while accumulating 8.7 yards per target. He also caught 63.49 percent of the passes thrown his way. Even though he only produced just 548 receiving yards last year, he still owned a 21.48 percent market share of the team’s passing offense.

20.) DLF rookie rankings – The DLF Team has him ranked seventh amongst rookie wide receivers behind Courtland Sutton, Calvin Ridley, James Washington, Christian Kirk, DJ Moore and Equanimeous St. Brown. They also have him ranked 15th overall in the top 50 Rankings. With this year’s draft class being stacked with talented running backs, Tate will get pushed down a bit in the overall rankings. In most years, considering his size and potential draft status, he would be flirting with the late first to early second round range in rookie drafts.

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bruce matson