If you own Tate and not Foster, you pretty much can't trade Tate. I had another non-Foster owner inquiring about him, and I said that he doesn't move unless Britt or Nicks is involved.
If Foster re-aggravates one more time, or does something worse, Tate is a top 5 FF back the rest of the way. If you have the depth to hold him, you can;t move him unless you get great value. That upside is enormous. There's no reason to trade him for his value w/ the risk that Foster comes back and takes over just fine again factored in.
You have to hold him. His exact perceived value doesn't really matter, because it's not worth trading the upside at this point in the season (or the current production), with all the issues Foster has.
He has a pulled hamstring. Not a break, not a tear. Not an ACL or Achilles problem. Not even a concussion issue. A pulled hamstring. I know these are touchy injuries, but they happen all the time, they do heal and the player does return to 100%. When that happens, the best a Tate owner can realistically hope for is a RBBC. Sure you have to account for a possible recurrence of the problem, but Foster owners can also account for the possible recurrence of Tate's problems from last year, which were infinitely more serious.
In my opinion, if you dont own Foster but do own Tate right now is the ideal time to sell him for the highest possible value to the Foster owner because that owner should place the highest value on his player's handcuff. He is a great player for Foster owners to own. But to expect a WR1 like Nicks or Britt in return is lunacy IMO. There is a decent chance that by next week you will be hanging onto a guy who gives you 8-12 touches per week and is only useful as a bye-week fill in. That chance does exist. With Nicks or Britt you KNOW you have an every week starter every week that they are playing. With Tate, the odds of that being the case are slim IMO. If you were drafting today, is there any chance in the world that anyone in your league would draft Tate before Nicks or Britt? I cannot image that happening in a redraft or a Dynasty league draft. I would see Nicks or Britt likely gone by the 2nd or 3rd round, and Tate likely gone by the 5th or 6th at the earliest - and not by me anywhere near that early unless it was as a handcuff.
I watched some of the Colts game, and all of the Dolphins game. Tate took what the defense gave him and looked fine doing it, but he didnt do anything special that made me say wow. I didnt see any dynamic plays where he showed great balance, vision, or speed. He played well. He looks like he is going to be a good NFL RB. When I watched Foster last year - and I watched him every week - he looked spectacular. Broke tackles, was decisive, had great vision, and was a big part of the passing game. He made me say wow almost every week. He was great at every aspect of his job.
I think the Tate owners that are holding onto him right now and turning away solid trade offers will be sorry by week 7 when they realize what they actually have. I fully recognize that I could be wrong here - just my strong opinion that I am right. I look forward to returning to this thread later in the season. Right or wrong, it will be interesting to revisit this one later on.
