So whatever happened to the Ben Tate love? (1 Viewer)

[Shutout]

All we ever heard for three years was Ben Tate would win the job outright, Ben Tate was better than Foster even when Foster was the starter and You must have Ben Tate as a handcuff because you have an instant RB1 if Foster gets hurt.

Now Tate has the open road to a heavy workload, with or without any timeshare, and it seems like no one is trumpeting him anymore.

Did he just get to be a boring story?

Are people dog piling on the "often injured" side? If so, other guys get hurt and come back, why is Tate different?

Personally, I've always been on the side of the fence that Foster was better and I've always been a bit down on Tate but I'm surprised that all the people that clamored for him for 2+ years seem to finally have gotten what they asked for and now no one is out there banging the drum.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

two words. cleveland browns. /

 

[Winning IS Everything]

He was starting to get some love, then Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell have come along and tamed the talk. There are many that think West and/or Crowell are better than Tate and it is only a matter of time before Tate is a backup again.

 

[Phenix]

He was starting to get some love, then Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell have come along and tamed the talk. There are many that think West and/or Crowell are better than Tate and it is only a matter of time before Tate is a backup again.

I love when people talk about rookies being better then people who have performed in the NFL without ever even taking the practice field in the NFL. Is it possible they can be better in the future? Absolutely. But is it possible for someone to consider and undrafted FA better the a guy signed who has played in the NFL and started games well? No.

 

[mr roboto]

Because it's easy to say 'Tate is a better talent than Foster. It's unfair that he hadn't gotten the chance to prove himself. He should get more touches.' You don't have to be challenged and proven wrong to keep making the assertion. See also, J Stew, and every hype thread on here. Woulda, coulda, shoulda is a fun world to live in. It's a little boring (and possibly proves them wrong) when it's time to see it.

 

[Winning IS Everything]

He was starting to get some love, then Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell have come along and tamed the talk. There are many that think West and/or Crowell are better than Tate and it is only a matter of time before Tate is a backup again.

I love when people talk about rookies being better then people who have performed in the NFL without ever even taking the practice field in the NFL. Is it possible they can be better in the future? Absolutely. But is it possible for someone to consider and undrafted FA better the a guy signed who has played in the NFL and started games well? No.

I agree with what you are saying. I have always wondered the same.

 

[Coeur de Lion]

The hype was pretty crazy after the 2011 season when he looked really good, then died down when he didn't do as well in 2012 and 2013. Then he signed with the Browns. It's not exactly surprising that people are lukewarm. That said, IMO he's going to get as much work as he can handle this year, is a good fit for the Shanahan ZBS, and showed last year that he can catch the ball a little bit. If he can stay healthy, he'll be a pretty solid FF RB.

 

[Shutout]

He was starting to get some love, then Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell have come along and tamed the talk. There are many that think West and/or Crowell are better than Tate and it is only a matter of time before Tate is a backup again.

I love when people talk about rookies being better then people who have performed in the NFL without ever even taking the practice field in the NFL. Is it possible they can be better in the future? Absolutely. But is it possible for someone to consider and undrafted FA better the a guy signed who has played in the NFL and started games well? No.

I agree with what you are saying. I have always wondered the same.

This is kind of my thought on the topic. How we went from "Tate is better than Foster" and everyone had him as an instant RB1 if the chance arose to now how the signing of an 3rd rounder and udfa is an indication that he is worse than the rookies. Too much rookie love?

 

[wadegarrett]

two words. cleveland browns. /

Some top notch analysis here people. Pay attention to this man.

 

[Shutout]

The hype was pretty crazy after the 2011 season when he looked really good, then died down when he didn't do as well in 2012 and 2013. Then he signed with the Browns. It's not exactly surprising that people are lukewarm. That said, IMO he's going to get as much work as he can handle this year, is a good fit for the Shanahan ZBS, and showed last year that he can catch the ball a little bit. If he can stay healthy, he'll be a pretty solid FF RB.

Good overall assessment.

Just as a spinoff form the original thought: SO now that Foster and Tate are in different places, who gets proven right? I'm guessing there will be a faction that says the presence of West and Crowell in Cleveland will prevent us from seeing once and for all.

 

[Shutout]

two words. cleveland browns. /

Some top notch analysis here people. Pay attention to this man.

But..they have Johnny Football now!

 

[jurb26]

Shinny toy syndrome. People are riding the emotional high of the draft. Tate is the best RB in Clev by far right now. The problem is he's got an extensive injury history. The guys behind him could be good enough to force a RBBC if he goes down or perhaps if Clev just wants to watch his carries.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

All we ever heard for three years was Ben Tate would win the job outright, Ben Tate was better than Foster even when Foster was the starter and You must have Ben Tate as a handcuff because you have an instant RB1 if Foster gets hurt.

Now Tate has the open road to a heavy workload, with or without any timeshare, and it seems like no one is trumpeting him anymore.

Did he just get to be a boring story?

Are people dog piling on the "often injured" side? If so, other guys get hurt and come back, why is Tate different?

Personally, I've always been on the side of the fence that Foster was better and I've always been a bit down on Tate but I'm surprised that all the people that clamored for him for 2+ years seem to finally have gotten what they asked for and now no one is out there banging the drum.

I don't remember hearing much of the first bolded comment, but the second bolded comment wasn't really unfounded. The Texans had a great running system in place and RBs often get hurt - its the nature of the position.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

He was starting to get some love, then Terrence West and Isaiah Crowell have come along and tamed the talk. There are many that think West and/or Crowell are better than Tate and it is only a matter of time before Tate is a backup again.

I love when people talk about rookies being better then people who have performed in the NFL without ever even taking the practice field in the NFL. Is it possible they can be better in the future? Absolutely. But is it possible for someone to consider and undrafted FA better the a guy signed who has played in the NFL and started games well? No.

Plus when people get so excited about draft picks/rookies they seem to forget where the guy they're just tossing aside was drafted in the first place. Recent examples are people talking about how much more talented a third round pick, a seventh round pick or UDFA are than two RBS that the teams that drafted them traded up in the second round to select them in Ben Tate and Toby Gerhart.

 

[Shutout]

All we ever heard for three years was Ben Tate would win the job outright, Ben Tate was better than Foster even when Foster was the starter and You must have Ben Tate as a handcuff because you have an instant RB1 if Foster gets hurt.

Now Tate has the open road to a heavy workload, with or without any timeshare, and it seems like no one is trumpeting him anymore.

Did he just get to be a boring story?

Are people dog piling on the "often injured" side? If so, other guys get hurt and come back, why is Tate different?

Personally, I've always been on the side of the fence that Foster was better and I've always been a bit down on Tate but I'm surprised that all the people that clamored for him for 2+ years seem to finally have gotten what they asked for and now no one is out there banging the drum.

I don't remember hearing much of the first bolded comment, but the second bolded comment wasn't really unfounded. The Texans had a great running system in place and RBs often get hurt - its the nature of the position.

There were tons of those statements on these very forums. Lots of people talking about how Tate was the better prospect and would win the job outright (granted, many were parroting Rotoworld's initial take). I remember one post, in particular that where someone mentioned over and over about "Hey Foster your 15 minutes are up" and people replying "yeah, Tate will get this and never look back".

The reason I mention the 2nd statement you bolded is because of the prevailing thought. The statement is generic and doesn't give it justice, but the expanded thought wasn't merely about handcuffing a player, it was that Tate was so good that he was a RB1 in waiting. If that is true, then why is he not now being hyped up like the many RBs do when they get a chance? Heck, we have guys that have never played in the league that are going into crowded backfields and they are being given more optimism than Tate.

Overall, just an occurrence where it seems like a lot of people had a wagon rolling until they actually got what they asked for. I think someone above summed it up best as "shiny toy syndrome".

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

The problem with Tate is that he's getting by on raw physical ability -- his vision is really suspect. I thought that long ago, but his 4.9 yards/reception on 58 career catches have really solidified the thought. Foster (9.1/catch), Slaton (8.3/catch) and even Vontae Leach (8.7/catch) all lap the guy.

 

[Coeur de Lion]

All we ever heard for three years was Ben Tate would win the job outright, Ben Tate was better than Foster even when Foster was the starter and You must have Ben Tate as a handcuff because you have an instant RB1 if Foster gets hurt.

Now Tate has the open road to a heavy workload, with or without any timeshare, and it seems like no one is trumpeting him anymore.

Did he just get to be a boring story?

Are people dog piling on the "often injured" side? If so, other guys get hurt and come back, why is Tate different?

Personally, I've always been on the side of the fence that Foster was better and I've always been a bit down on Tate but I'm surprised that all the people that clamored for him for 2+ years seem to finally have gotten what they asked for and now no one is out there banging the drum.

I don't remember hearing much of the first bolded comment, but the second bolded comment wasn't really unfounded. The Texans had a great running system in place and RBs often get hurt - its the nature of the position.

There were tons of those statements on these very forums. Lots of people talking about how Tate was the better prospect and would win the job outright (granted, many were parroting Rotoworld's initial take). I remember one post, in particular that where someone mentioned over and over about "Hey Foster your 15 minutes are up" and people replying "yeah, Tate will get this and never look back". The reason I mention the 2nd statement you bolded is because of the prevailing thought. The statement is generic and doesn't give it justice, but the expanded thought wasn't merely about handcuffing a player, it was that Tate was so good that he was a RB1 in waiting. If that is true, then why is he not now being hyped up like the many RBs do when they get a chance? Heck, we have guys that have never played in the league that are going into crowded backfields and they are being given more optimism than Tate.

Overall, just an occurrence where it seems like a lot of people had a wagon rolling until they actually got what they asked for. I think someone above summed it up best as "shiny toy syndrome".

IMO a big part of that was people just fading Foster as opposed to genuinely loving Tate. A ton of people (myself included to be honest) were late to realize that Arian Foster is actually a really good RB. By now it's pretty clear that Tate isn't as good as Foster -- and that's no slam on Tate as Foster is damn good. Both guys' FF stats were probably enhanced due to an extremely RB friendly system in Houston. Tate now gets another RB friendly system with Shanahan in Cleveland, but will probably face some much tougher sledding due to the lack of a credible padding threat in Cleveland sans Gordon.

 

[Bojang0301]

I haven't seen people so amped up about Cleveland RB's since William Green. I like Tate though. If he stays healthy he has a chance to take on the Alfred Morris role in Shanahan's offense. He has the ability and opportunity to be a high end #2 RB you can probably still get at a decent price.

 

[eNdblu]

I think that by now we'd all feel like Ben Tate is just an injury waiting to happen. Rostering Tate is almost like rostering DMC all these years. You're gonna have to think strongly about drafting his backup earlier then you really want to for the eventual string of games where he's on the injury report.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I think that by now we'd all feel like Ben Tate is just an injury waiting to happen. Rostering Tate is almost like rostering DMC all these years. You're gonna have to think strongly about drafting his backup earlier then you really want to for the eventual string of games where he's on the injury report.

...in other words, "he's a RB".

 

[az_prof]

The hype was pretty crazy after the 2011 season when he looked really good, then died down when he didn't do as well in 2012 and 2013. Then he signed with the Browns. It's not exactly surprising that people are lukewarm. That said, IMO he's going to get as much work as he can handle this year, is a good fit for the Shanahan ZBS, and showed last year that he can catch the ball a little bit. If he can stay healthy, he'll be a pretty solid FF RB.

Good overall assessment.

Just as a spinoff form the original thought: SO now that Foster and Tate are in different places, who gets proven right? I'm guessing there will be a faction that says the presence of West and Crowell in Cleveland will prevent us from seeing once and for all.

I am excited to see Tate as the featured back. And, for the record, I have Tate, West and Crowell. But I picked those guys up as backup/insurance. I expect West to be used to spell Tate and if Tate gets hurt. But people who think the rookies will just take over short of injury are dreaming. West and Crowell have some impressive college tape, mostly against division II competition, but Tate looks better against NFL competition. Seriously.

 

[B-Deep]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

 

[cstu]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

In redraft, yes, but dynasty his value is shot unless West and Crowell prove not to be good backs.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

In redraft, yes, but dynasty his value is shot unless West and Crowell prove not to be good backs.

why is his value shot?

Cleveland had virtually nothing behind Tate, they were going to draft someone.

They drafted a small school guy in West, and Crowell off the street.

The job is Tates to loose for the foreseeable future.

 

[fantasycurse42]

BC he looked like a mediocre back when he got his chance, even after his ribs healed.

When he became the feature guy, the dropoff in talent between him and Foster became apparent.

 

[saintfool]

BC he looked like a mediocre back when he got his chance, even after his ribs healed.

When he became the feature guy, the dropoff in talent between him and Foster became apparent.

i don't know that anyone that plays especially well with 4 broken ribs for 2 months or more but it is made worse behind atrocious QB play - schaub, keenum, al bundy - that didn't help anyone on that team. kubiak's departure late in the season probably hurt him too.

i'm not convinced he's going to have a season like foster ever but i am reluctant to write him off because he hasn't either. he has a chance to be productive and isn't much an investment in terms of fantasy or NFL terms. why the hyperbole in terms of his ability - or lack thereof - is beyond me frankly.

 

[monk]

He didn't perform when he got the opportunity last year

 

[fantasycurse42]

BC he looked like a mediocre back when he got his chance, even after his ribs healed.

When he became the feature guy, the dropoff in talent between him and Foster became apparent.

i don't know that anyone that plays especially well with 4 broken ribs for 2 months or more but it is made worse behind atrocious QB play - schaub, keenum, al bundy - that didn't help anyone on that team. kubiak's departure late in the season probably hurt him too.

i'm not convinced he's going to have a season like foster ever but i am reluctant to write him off because he hasn't either. he has a chance to be productive and isn't much an investment in terms of fantasy or NFL terms. why the hyperbole in terms of his ability - or lack thereof - is beyond me frankly.

He didn't look that good after the ribs healed as I stated above.

Also, I didn't write he had no talent, but a severe dropoff compared to Foster, and it became apparent when Foster got hurt.

I'm not sold on the guy... Depending where he is going in drafts I might take a flyer on him, but I suspect the price will be too steep for my blood.

 

[saintfool]

He didn't perform when he got the opportunity last year

2-14 team. how much opportunity is there exactly?

 

[fantasycurse42]

He didn't perform when he got the opportunity last year

2-14 team. how opportunity is there exactly?

We get it, you like Tate no matter what...

BTW, The Jaguars were 5-11 when MJD had the most rushing yards in the NFL and almost 2k all purpose

 

[saintfool]

BC he looked like a mediocre back when he got his chance, even after his ribs healed.

When he became the feature guy, the dropoff in talent between him and Foster became apparent.

i don't know that anyone that plays especially well with 4 broken ribs for 2 months or more but it is made worse behind atrocious QB play - schaub, keenum, al bundy - that didn't help anyone on that team. kubiak's departure late in the season probably hurt him too.

i'm not convinced he's going to have a season like foster ever but i am reluctant to write him off because he hasn't either. he has a chance to be productive and isn't much an investment in terms of fantasy or NFL terms. why the hyperbole in terms of his ability - or lack thereof - is beyond me frankly.

He didn't look that good after the ribs healed as I stated above.

Also, I didn't write he had no talent, but a severe dropoff compared to Foster, and it became apparent when Foster got hurt.

I'm not sold on the guy... Depending where he is going in drafts I might take a flyer on him, but I suspect the price will be too steep for my blood.

i think he broke his ribs the first game after foster went down. but when did his ribs heal? he was still getting treatment for them into December before going on the IR in week 16. the fact of the matter is he played every week with them broken.

 

[saintfool]

He didn't perform when he got the opportunity last year

2-14 team. how opportunity is there exactly?

We get it, you like Tate no matter what...

BTW, The Jaguars were 5-11 when MJD had the most rushing yards in the NFL and almost 2k all purpose

it's not that i "like" Tate but rather i don't dislike him no matter what. i have no idea what he will show us but i'm convinced that he's nowhere near as bad as many observers seem to think he is. that's hardly a ringing endorsement on my part, i think. it just seems that making judgments absent of context is just lazy.

 

[fantasycurse42]

BC he looked like a mediocre back when he got his chance, even after his ribs healed.

When he became the feature guy, the dropoff in talent between him and Foster became apparent.

i don't know that anyone that plays especially well with 4 broken ribs for 2 months or more but it is made worse behind atrocious QB play - schaub, keenum, al bundy - that didn't help anyone on that team. kubiak's departure late in the season probably hurt him too.

i'm not convinced he's going to have a season like foster ever but i am reluctant to write him off because he hasn't either. he has a chance to be productive and isn't much an investment in terms of fantasy or NFL terms. why the hyperbole in terms of his ability - or lack thereof - is beyond me frankly.

He didn't look that good after the ribs healed as I stated above.

Also, I didn't write he had no talent, but a severe dropoff compared to Foster, and it became apparent when Foster got hurt.

I'm not sold on the guy... Depending where he is going in drafts I might take a flyer on him, but I suspect the price will be too steep for my blood.

i think he broke his ribs the first game after foster went down. but when did his ribs heal? he was still getting treatment for them into December before going on the IR in week 16. the fact of the matter is he played every week with them broken.

He hurt himself in week 6 or 7... It was against the Chiefs & cracked ribs on average take 3-6 weeks to heal - Furthermore, outside of the Patriots game he didn't look that good, it really is that simple.

 

[Noah Davis]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

In redraft, yes, but dynasty his value is shot unless West and Crowell prove not to be good backs.

why is his value shot?

Cleveland had virtually nothing behind Tate, they were going to draft someone.

They drafted a small school guy in West, and Crowell off the street.

The job is Tates to loose for the foreseeable future.

You obviously have not watched Crowell that much. If he can avoid being an idiot the magnitude of Gordon/Blackmon off the field then he is the most talented RB of the entire 2014 class. His entire knock is character and he saved himself in the 2013 season for the NFL.

If you really wanna know Isiah Crowell check out his freshman highlights from UGA before he got kicked off the team. My personal opinion is that he is not JAG off the street.

 

[mr roboto]

I'm not a Ben Tate owner but he had broken ribs all year.

 

[duaneok66]

His ribs never healed during the season - the guy played through a painful injury and people called his performance mediocre - what did they expect when the guys wasn't healthy - broken ribs isn't like a slight ankle sprain. The guy was lucky to do what he did.

That being said, it doesn't look good for him. Manziel is a rookie (obviously) throwing to the worst WR corps in the league. There won't be too many scoring chances on tap.

 

[Khy]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

In redraft, yes, but dynasty his value is shot unless West and Crowell prove not to be good backs.

why is his value shot?Cleveland had virtually nothing behind Tate, they were going to draft someone.

They drafted a small school guy in West, and Crowell off the street.

The job is Tates to loose for the foreseeable future.

You obviously have not watched Crowell that much. If he can avoid being an idiot the magnitude of Gordon/Blackmon off the field then he is the most talented RB of the entire 2014 class. His entire knock is character and he saved himself in the 2013 season for the NFL. If you really wanna know Isiah Crowell check out his freshman highlights from UGA before he got kicked off the team. My personal opinion is that he is not JAG off the street.

Evan Silva said something in this subject and I agree with him 100%. I don't have the exact quote but it was along the lines of:

"How big of a a$$ must a player be to CLEARLY be the most talented at his position and go undrafted?"

He's not Josh Gordon level boob, he's on a whole nother level. It's highly unlikely he makes it with any team unless he can somehow age 20 years over night.

 

[Drop]

People were wrong about the talent level between Foster and Tate, but they weren't wrong about the fantasy relevance of the HOU starting RB given the offensive system and coaching philosophy. The demise of the right side of the offensive line was a huge problem.

 

[Shutout]

People were wrong about the talent level between Foster and Tate, but they weren't wrong about the fantasy relevance of the HOU starting RB given the offensive system and coaching philosophy. The demise of the right side of the offensive line was a huge problem.

A little off topic but something tells me they are gonna run the snot out of the ball this year in Houston. They addressed the line and blocking heavily and AJ is saying he's not sure about the fit anymore. A lot of people read the tea leaves as that is an indictment on the qb but if you take another sip of the tea, it could also mean the team has shared its philosophy with players and they are going to be a running team, just a guess but either way they didn't hurt the chances of the running games.

 

[Ilov80s]

two words. cleveland browns. /

Sums it up. Most of the Tate hype was tied to him playing for the Texans when they had an elite run game.

 

[jurb26]

two words. cleveland browns. /

Sums it up. Most of the Tate hype was tied to him playing for the Texans when they had an elite run game.

Clev has a better oline than HOU does at this point.

 

[Gopher State]

I don't see Tate being the starting RB. West has been compared to Alfred Morris, I think West wins the starting job outright, or worst a 50/50 split with tater

 

[Ilov80s]

two words. cleveland browns. /

Sums it up. Most of the Tate hype was tied to him playing for the Texans when they had an elite run game.

Clev has a better oline than HOU does at this point.

Better, but there is no precedent for for a RB to score 15+ TDs like Houston had.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

I think being this close to the draft where nfl teams seemed to give the collective finger to the RB position has taken the luster off of a lot of RBs

by the time the season roles around fantasy peeps will all be RB happy again and tate's love will pick up

In redraft, yes, but dynasty his value is shot unless West and Crowell prove not to be good backs.

why is his value shot?Cleveland had virtually nothing behind Tate, they were going to draft someone.

They drafted a small school guy in West, and Crowell off the street.

The job is Tates to loose for the foreseeable future.

You obviously have not watched Crowell that much. If he can avoid being an idiot the magnitude of Gordon/Blackmon off the field then he is the most talented RB of the entire 2014 class. His entire knock is character and he saved himself in the 2013 season for the NFL. If you really wanna know Isiah Crowell check out his freshman highlights from UGA before he got kicked off the team. My personal opinion is that he is not JAG off the street.

Evan Silva said something in this subject and I agree with him 100%. I don't have the exact quote but it was along the lines of:

"How big of a ### must a player be to CLEARLY be the most talented at his position and go undrafted?"

He's not Josh Gordon level boob, he's on a whole nother level. It's highly unlikely he makes it with any team unless he can somehow age 20 years over night.

if NFL teams thought he truelty was that talented they would of taken him in the draft, 6th or 7th round.

borderline-talented morons arent long for the league

 

[Bri]

The crowell love is too strong. I don't know him nor have seen tapes or any of that, but there's no way he's as good as people say and went undrafted when they dissect RBs as much as they do. Something doesn't smell right there.

I love the rooks being discussed though because I think it brings down Tate's value. I'll totally draft him in every draft if this continues.

 

[The Football Freak]

I think that by now we'd all feel like Ben Tate is just an injury waiting to happen. Rostering Tate is almost like rostering DMC all these years. You're gonna have to think strongly about drafting his backup earlier then you really want to for the eventual string of games where he's on the injury report.

...in other words, "he's a RB".

Well, to be fair, the average RB misses about 2.5 games a year, and Tate is at 6. He misses quite a bit more than the average.

 

[az_prof]

I think that by now we'd all feel like Ben Tate is just an injury waiting to happen. Rostering Tate is almost like rostering DMC all these years. You're gonna have to think strongly about drafting his backup earlier then you really want to for the eventual string of games where he's on the injury report.

...in other words, "he's a RB".

Well, to be fair, the average RB misses about 2.5 games a year, and Tate is at 6. He misses quite a bit more than the average.

That's true if you count his first season where he was out the whole year against him. But if you look at the last three years he has missed 7 games, which is 2.33/year.

I think you need to distinguish between a freak accident that is season ending (broken ankle) vs. nagging injuries that other players play through. For example, I give Tate credit that he played most of last year with broken ribs. That shows toughness. A RB has to be able to play hurt, even they don't play as well.

Other than a broken ankle to start 2010, Tate has been kept OUT for Hamstring (3 games in 2011) and 1 game for Ribs at end of 2013, after having played with broken ribs since week 8. I suspect they sat him in week 16 because there was nothing to play for at that point.

http://www.kffl.com/player/22420/nfl/injury_history/ben-tate

Contrast that with a true injury prone RB like Darren McFadden. He was OUT for 4 games with knee strain in 2009; 1 game for hammy in 2010; 9 games for a foot in 2011; 3 for ankle in 2012; 3 for hammy and 2 for ankle in 2012.

http://www.kffl.com/player/16015/nfl/injury_history/darren-mcfadden

McFadden has proven to be injury prone. Tate started his career with a season ending injury, but since then he has been as durable as an average NFL rb.

 

[The Football Freak]

I think that by now we'd all feel like Ben Tate is just an injury waiting to happen. Rostering Tate is almost like rostering DMC all these years. You're gonna have to think strongly about drafting his backup earlier then you really want to for the eventual string of games where he's on the injury report.

...in other words, "he's a RB".

Well, to be fair, the average RB misses about 2.5 games a year, and Tate is at 6. He misses quite a bit more than the average.

That's true if you count his first season where he was out the whole year against him. But if you look at the last three years he has missed 7 games, which is 2.33/year. I think you need to distinguish between a freak accident that is season ending (broken ankle) vs. nagging injuries that other players play through. For example, I give Tate credit that he played most of last year with broken ribs. That shows toughness. A RB has to be able to play hurt, even they don't play as well.

Other than a broken ankle to start 2010, Tate has been kept OUT for Hamstring (3 games in 2011) and 1 game for Ribs at end of 2013, after having played with broken ribs since week 8. I suspect they sat him in week 16 because there was nothing to play for at that point.

http://www.kffl.com/player/22420/nfl/injury_history/ben-tate

Contrast that with a true injury prone RB like Darren McFadden. He was OUT for 4 games with knee strain in 2009; 1 game for hammy in 2010; 9 games for a foot in 2011; 3 for ankle in 2012; 3 for hammy and 2 for ankle in 2012.

http://www.kffl.com/player/16015/nfl/injury_history/darren-mcfadden

McFadden has proven to be injury prone. Tate started his career with a season ending injury, but since then he has been as durable as an average NFL rb.

Very good point.

 

[EBF]

I don't see Tate being the starting RB. West has been compared to Alfred Morris, I think West wins the starting job outright, or worst a 50/50 split with tater

It will be an interesting battle. I don't think either guy is great. There are some things I like about West, but ultimately he strikes me as just an average or slightly above average NFL back. I'm not sure Tate is much better than that, but he seems to have a little more wow factor.

Agree with others that Crowell is way overhyped. You can't get too excited about a guy that no team even liked enough to draft. At the same time, he's a lot more intriguing than the typical UDFA and may be a wild card in this battle.

This situation could go a lot of ways. I think it's possible that one guy could emerge from the pile. I think it's also conceivable that this will be an ugly RBBC the whole way. Given that Tate has the best pedigree and is the most experienced, I'd back him as the favorite to shine here.

 

[jurb26]

I don't see Tate being the starting RB. West has been compared to Alfred Morris, I think West wins the starting job outright, or worst a 50/50 split with tater

It will be an interesting battle. I don't think either guy is great. There are some things I like about West, but ultimately he strikes me as just an average or slightly above average NFL back. I'm not sure Tate is much better than that, but he seems to have a little more wow factor.

Agree with others that Crowell is way overhyped. You can't get too excited about a guy that no team even liked enough to draft. At the same time, he's a lot more intriguing than the typical UDFA and may be a wild card in this battle.

This situation could go a lot of ways. I think it's possible that one guy could emerge from the pile. I think it's also conceivable that this will be an ugly RBBC the whole way. Given that Tate has the best pedigree and is the most experienced, I'd back him as the favorite to shine here.

The FBG love for this guy is out of hand. Like I said prior to the draft, his talent doesn't outweigh his issues. He's just not THAT good. He's got ability for sure. Is he the most talented runner in the class? I don't think so at all.