Did you really think Howie Roseman was going to sit on his hands at the trade deadline?
No way!
Roseman did what he does on Tuesday afternoon, trading for Lions veteran receiver Golden Tate. The Eagles gave up a third-round pick in 2019 to get Tate, which is a pretty high price, considering he’ll be an eight-game rental.
But this is clearly a win-now move and an aggressive one from Roseman and the Eagles.
They’ll get back a good player and a position where they desperately needed help. This offense needed another weapon and now they have it.
The Eagles were set to have around 11 draft picks in 2019 (including two second-rounders), so they had the ammo to pull off this move. And if Tate leaves in free agency they’ll at least get back a decent compensatory pick in 2020.
Tate seems pretty excited about joining the reigning Super Bowl champs:
Tate is 30 and in the final year of his contract, but can still play. In seven games with the Lions this season, Tate had 44 catches for 517 yards and three touchdowns.
And Tate has been consistently good for years. From 2014-17 after he joined the Lions, he averaged 93 catches for 1,056 yards and 4.75 touchdowns. That’s tremendous production.
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Eagles will be on the hook for just under a $4 million cap hit for Tate the rest of this season, but they had $10 million in space, so they’ll be able to fit him in.
Through eight games this season, the Eagles’ offense has scored just 22.3 points per game after averaging over 28 points per game last season. It was pretty obvious that a receiver was their top need as the trade deadline neared. They got someone who will definitely be able to help them.
While Tate and Nelson Agholor clearly share some of the same traits, the Eagles’ coaching staff should be able to find a way to use Tate. In fact, a lot of the things they’ve been doing with Agholor around the line of scrimmage might be better suited for a big YAC guy like Tate.
Now, it’s up to Doug Pederson and Mike Groh to find ways to utilize their new weapon. The Eagles won in London on Sunday to crawl back to a 4-4 record and give themselves some hope at a repeat.
And Roseman just gave them a little more.
