When the 2017 NFL season was finally in the books and the offseason was upon us, one of the biggest questions was whether or not the Detroit Lions and Golden Tate would come to an agreement on a contract extension.
Well, that time passed without the two sides reaching an agreement and the 2018 season began. Then As the Oct. 30 NFL trade deadline approached, the Tate trade rumors started to swirl around and I started getting nervous.
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Avoid the big mistake
You see, extending (or re-signing) Tate is a move I have been firmly against from Day 1. So, when rumors started flying that Tate could end up being traded, I got a bit excited. Even if we were only able to get back a fourth-round pick, I would have been excited, mostly because it meant Lions GM Bob Quinn was not willing to waste a ton of cash on a receiver who will be 31 for the 2019 season. After all, extending an “older” receiver who is likely going to demand a 3-4 year deal worth $12 million + per season would have been a big mistake that could end up crippling the Lions down the road.
As the deadline got closer and closer, I came to the conclusion in my head that the Lions were going to hold on to Tate for the rest of the season, at least. My fear then was if Quinn would be dumb enough to pay Tate what he was sure to demand if he decided to test the waters in free agency.
In fact, I even jumped on the Detroit Sports Nation Twitter account, which I rarely do and tweeted out my thoughts on the chances of Tate being traded.
There are a lot of people freaking out about the chances of Golden Tate being traded. RELAX, he is not going anywhere at this point. Should be more worried about him testing the waters in FA.
— DetroitSportsNation (@detsportsnation) October 30, 2018
As we know, that tweet did not age well and plenty of people were kind enough to point that out to us!
Done Deal!
With just a couple of hours remaining before the NFL trade deadline, I hopped on Twitter at the exact moment that Tate tweeted out the following message.
It’s been real DETROIT! I’ll love ya forever. Philly Philly let’s get it!!
— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) October 30, 2018
As you can probably imagine, I nearly jumped out of my chair with excitement! But before celebrating I quickly wrote up a piece and published it so Lions fans could be made aware of the trade.
Then I started to browse social media for reactions and I was shocked to see how many people actually were hating on the Lions for trading Tate for a third-round pick.
Even some of the local beat writers, who should understand what this is about, were claiming that this move was a symbol of waiving a white flag on the remainder of the season! One writer, who will not be named, even referred to this move as “throwing this season in the trash.”
I am here to tell you that those writers (and fans who agree) could not be more wrong.
Super Bowl or Bust
NEWS FLASH…. THE 2018 DETROIT LIONS, WITH OR WITHOUT GOLDEN TATE, ARE NOT A SUPER BOWL CONTENDER AND THEY ARE NOT CLOSE!!!
“But this trade will lose the locker room!”
That is a load of garbage!
Sure, it is sad to see Tate leave. He was not only a team leader on the field, but he was even a bigger leader off of the field.
But this is a business and EVERY player in the Lions locker room knows that. They understand why Tate was traded and they certainly will not be quitting on this season because of it.
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I will not lie, I have not been a big fan of Bob Quinn’s GM skills up to this point. I have disagreed with many of the moves he has made (or not made) up to this point, but trading Tate was 100% the right decision.
By making this trade, coupled with the trade last week for Damon “Snacks” Harrison, Quinn has proven to me that he does not care about just winning the NFC North or a playoff game, he has a bigger goal.
WINNING A SUPER BOWL!!!
If you are a fan (or beat writer)(or blog writer) who is satisfied with winning a bad NFC North division, that is your choice. But for those of you who will never truly be happy until the Lions hoist the Lombardi Trophy, this is a trade for you to applaud.
By the looks of it, the majority of you are on the same page as me! For the 32% of you who disagree with the trade, what is it that you enjoy about being mediocre?
GO LIONS!!!
