TALKIN’ ABOUT
Tate still in
Golden Tate returned to Thursday’s practice buried deep on the Giants’ depth chart and firmly planted in Joe Judge’s doghouse. The veteran receiver stood and watched, not running a single route, as both the Giants’ starting and backup offensive units warmed up. Even practice squad receivers took reps while he didn’t.
Then Tate was sent over to a separate field with the scout team offense of backups that prepares the Giants’ first-string defense each week.
Tate stretched with the team at the start of practice, then missed the Giants’ first period of individual warmup because he was sitting on the sideline doing something with his cleats.
He caught some balls in a couple of individual drills before being excluded from the full offensive drills and then demoted to scout team.
Judge had kept Tate, 32, away from Wednesday’s practice after speaking “at length” with Tate about his vocal frustrations with
his role in the offense.
The head coach said Thursday that he is highly “conscious” of the fact that his discipline sets a precedent for his program and organization.
“The biggest thing I have to do is be consistent in the decisions I make based on the circumstances i n v o l v e d ,” Judge said. “I have a philosophy, we have team rules that are clearly laid out to our players. There is not a lot of gray area in anything we do as a program.”
Judge indicated that for transparency’s sake, he addressed the team in some fashion about Tate’s situation and Wednesday’s absence, as the coach would with any major issue.
“Yeah, I address decisions with the team on a regular basis,” Judge said. “If something happens, I’ll talk to them in the squad meeting or I’ll address the captains individually or as a group. But whoever needs to be communicated with, I always keep them in the loop.”
Tate had yelled “throw me the damn ball” at the Giants’ sideline after his first catch on Monday night against the Buccaneers, and he had screamed “throw me the ball” into ESPN’s end zone camera after his second catch for a TD.
Tate’s wife Elise also ranted on Instagram Monday night that Tate’s lack of usage in the offense was affecting his stats. She said Tate was open often but not receiving the ball.
Judge had said that Tate would return to practice on Thursday and it would be “business as usual,” but Tate’s role in practice left open the possibility that he could be benched entirely for Sunday’s game at Washington (2-5), the only team the Giants (1-7) have beaten so far.
Even if Tate does dress, C.J. Board appears healthy after missing the past two games due to a concussion, which likely would eat into Tate’s already-low 54% snap share the past four weeks.
The Giants likely would have traded Tate before Tuesday’s deadline if they’d found any takers for the player and contract ($4.5 million owed the rest of the season), but there were no takers.
The Tates’ Monday behavior seemed designed to force a trade but was unsuccessful if so. The Giants could release Tate, but they aren’t cutting him. Doing so would incur a $2.35 million dead cap charge through 2022.
THE INJURY REPORT
Corner Ryan Lewis (hamstring) did not practice Thursday. He was the only player not on the field. Five players were limited: RB Devonta Freeman (ankle), LB Devante Downs (shoulder), LB Blake Martinez (hamstring), FS Logan Ryan (hip) and WR Sterling Shepard (shoulder/toe). Freeman, who sat out Monday night’s loss to the Bucs, ran fairly well during the individual portion of Thursday’s practice.