With the 36th pick in the 2010 BGN Draft, Route36 selects...
Golden Tate - WR, Notre Dame
Let’s be honest, the Chiefs are a really bad team, offensively and defensively. They could use any help they can get on either side of the ball. I had it narrowed down to either a nose tackle or a shiny new wide receiver for their $63 million Quarterback . The two guys I specifically targeted for pick thirty six were Terrence Cody and Golden Tate. Alas, Cody was gone ten picks earlier and I was holding my breath (not really) for Tate to be available at 36. There he was sitting pretty for me to call on his name!
Golden Tate was a no brainer, really. With the pickup of Berry with our 5th pick (giving us arguably the best safety tandem in the NFL), we can focus a bit on the offense. There are two other solid nose tackle prospects in the draft by the names of Torrell Troupe and Linval Joseph. They will be available for the Chiefs to draft with their 50th or 68th picks. They currently have Shaun Smith at NT, who the Chiefs just signed to a contract last month. He had his best year in 2007, under current Chiefs defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel in Cleveland. Troupe/Joseph could play behind him for a season or two before taking over the starting spot.
The Chiefs were horrible offensively. They were 23rd in points per game and 25th in passing yards per game. A lot of that had to do with Cassel’s lack of weapons in the passing game. They have one very good receiver in Dwayne Bowe (suspended for 4 games last season) and a decent but aging one in Chris Chambers who was picked up during mid-season (also signed to a three year extension in the offseason). Other than those two, they’ve got nothin’.
Enter Golden Tate, a blazing fast Wide Receiver who I consider the 2nd best wide-out in this year’s draft. Yes, even better than JIBTA’s boy, Thomas. At 5’11 and 195 lbs, Tate dominated college football at the wide receiver position. In 2009, he had 93 receptions, 1496 yards and 15 touchdowns. He weighed in at 202 pounds at the combine and still ran an unofficial 4.36 forty yard dash, 4.42 official.
More after the jump...
Here are the attributes that make him a great prospect…
- Extremely productive
- Very athletic
- Excellent speed to stretch a defense
- Great hand-eye coordination
- Nice Y.A.C.
- Acrobatic
- Plucks ball at apex
- Experience in West Coast offense
- Comes back to quarterback when play breaks down
- Versatile; can play Wildcat, slot, split end
- Shows nice vision after catch
- Eats cushion quickly
- Shifty runner
- Intelligent
- Great instincts
- Good leadership
- Had some huge games
- Plays with heart; very competitive
The person that can get the best out of him in the NFL is his former coach at Notre Dame, Charlie Weiss who is now my offensive coordinator in Kansas City. He will start right away at the slot position and will also likely be the team’s primary punt returner, which he also does well. Tate averaged 14.3 yards per return in 2009 and had one returned for a touchdown. He should eventually move over to the X or Z spot in a couple years to take over Chambers, who will be 32 in August. He has drawn comparisons to both Steve Smiths and Minnesota’s Percy Harvin. Besides, we should select him just for his great name alone!
Next on the clock will be Team Serbia with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Previous picks: #1 Ndamukong Suh, #2 Russell Okung, #3 Gerald McCoy, #4 Sam Bradford, #5 Eric Berry, #6 Trent Williams, #7 Jimmy Clausen, #8 Bruce Campbell, #9 Bryan Bulaga, #10 Derrick Morgan, #11 Rolando McClain, #12 Sergio Kindle, #13 Joe Haden, #14 C.J. Spiller, #15 Mike Iupati, #16 Jason Pierre-Paul, #17 Anthony Davis, #18 Kyle Wilson, #19 Brandon Graham, #20 Dan Williams, #21 Dez Bryant, #22 Tim Tebow, #23 Charles Brown, #24 Sean Weatherspoon, #25 Earl Thomas, #26 Terrence Cody, #27 Maurkice Pouncey, #28 Ryan Matthews, #29 Jared Odrick, #30 Patrick Robinson, #31 Devin McCourty, #32 Jerry Hughes, #33 Demaryius Thomas, #34 Taylor Mays, #35 Kareem Jackson