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ANALYSIS: The time has come. Yes, Golden Tate won't be back until Week 5, but now is the perfect moment to get him before it's too late. The 10-year veteran enters his 11th season as one of best receivers the Giants will field this year. No Giant other than Evan Engram has eclipsed the 20-target mark (he has 30). Saquon Barkley ranks second in targets with 18 but he went down in Week 3 and could miss up to four weeks, limiting the Giants' options. Enter Golden Tate.
Tate could become a deep threat option but for now, as he has aged into his 30s, profiles more as a short-mid target for new starting QB Daniel Jones. Eli Manning is washed up and the rookie took the reigns in Week 3 putting on a convincing performance. Perhaps that is more good news going Tate's way.
By the end of the 2018 season, Tate had logged 795 yards on 44 receptions out of 113 targets. He only scored four touchdowns all year long, though. In fantasy football terms, Tate closed the year as WR31 (a Flex option at best) with 182.9 PPR points in 15 games. Truth be told, it was Tate's worst season since 2012. In his prior four years in Detroit (2014-2017), Tate never scored less than 211.4 PPR points overall, reaching his career-best mark in 2014 with 259.1.
If Tate's able to put on a slightly better performance than last year and his numbers positively regress to his past mean, we could be talking about a high-end WR2 with potential to finish some weeks as a low-end WR1 scorer in such a great situation (in terms of volume/opportunities) as the Giants present. New York's bye doesn't come until Week 11, so there is still plenty of time to bet on Tate. If you need help at the WR position or are short on valuable Flex guys, Tate is still one of the highest-floor players available for free in almost two-thirds of the leagues.
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