Auden

Tate

The Cardinals also signed P Nolan Cooney, OL Julién Davenport, LS Joe Fortunato, K Elliott Fry, CB Nate Hairston, S JuJu Hughes, LB Blake Lynch, TE Chris Pierce, TE Bernhard Seikovits, OL Lachavious Simmons, S Josh Thomas, OL Badara Traore, and WR Javon Wims to reserve/future contracts. Tate signed with the Falcons in the offseason but did not crack the team’s final roster. After a stint with the Eagles, he ended the year on Arizona’s practice squad.

The Falcons also cut fellow veteran wideout Geronimo Allison. Tate was briefly hyped as a potential starter for the WR-starved Falcons shortly after his signing in March, but he was quickly passed on the depth chart. The ex-Bengal is still just 25 years old but has mainly been a special teamer in his career.

For most teams, signing Tate would not move the needle. The Falcons are not most teams. After losing Calvin Ridley to a year-long suspension and Russell Gage to the Bucs, Atlanta has a completely barren receiving room. Olamide Zaccheaus and KhaDarel Hodge are currently the biggest names on their roster. Tate, who was made a healthy scratch more times than the number of passes he caught last year, will look to revive his career with the Falcons. At 6'5/228, the former Bengal has the size to win contested catches, but he rarely made that skill apparent in Cincinnati. If he shows some signs of improvement during training camp, Tate will have a shot at earning a starting role on his new team.

The Bengals come into the regular season’s final stretch as one of the league’e healthiest teams. Tate, who missed practice all week with a thigh injury, will miss another game after being inactive last week against the Raiders.

Not much to see here. The Bengals enter Week 11 mostly healthy. Tate is about because of a thigh issue but would not have been involved in the offense if active.

Rookie DT Tyler Shelvin, active for the first time in his career, being made available over Irwin suggests the Bengals will lean on their base defense against Cleveland, which leads the league in 13 personnel sans Odell Beckham. Chris Evans is active as the team’s third-string runner.

The Bengals will have their entire offensive core healthy against the Jets. They should have no trouble dispatching a Mike White led dumpster fire. The most concerning issue for Bengals fantasy players is that the starters could get pulled early.

Tate was only playing because the Bengals routed the Lions, but made the most of his garbage time target. The Bengals’ passing game could open up down the stretch, so Tate should remain on fantasy managers’ waiver wire watch list. He could be worth an add if a wide receiver ahead of him misses time.

It’s been a disastrous month for the stud rookie receiver, who had three ugly drops in the Bengals’ preseason game against Washington on Friday. Chase, who hasn’t played competitive football since 2019, said after the game that he’s “still adjusting to the timing” of NFL play. Dehner said Chase’s struggles continued into Sunday, when he recorded a few drops in red zone drills, including a nicely thrown ball from Joe Burrow to the back of the end zone. Asked about Tate taking on some of Chase’s snaps in the regular season, head coach Zac Taylor said “you can take a young guy and let him acclimate to life in the league. His skills will show off here pretty soon.” It appears fantasy managers drafting Tee Higgins over Chase in seasonal leagues were right all along. Chase’s case of the yips should push him well down draft boards in the coming weeks.

The rangy, uber-athletic Tate is the odd man out in the team’s three-WR sets, which will include Tyler Boyd, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins. But Tate would be on the field when the Bengals move away from those three-WR alignments. Morrison said as “confidence grows in what the team expects to be an improved offensive line, and as [Joe] Burrow continues to develop with his already fast processing abilities, we could see more four- and even five-wide sets in 2021.” Tate would be an afterthought for opposing secondaries, and “his length, body control and strong hands mean he doesn’t have to be open to be a threat,” Morrison said. In 2019, Tate caught 40 of 80 targets for 575 yards (14.4 yards per catch) and a touchdown. He was phased out of the Bengals passing attack in 2020. Tate will require a wideout injury to become an every-down player in 2021.