Golden Tate turned down an extension before being traded to the Eagles
According to reports, the Detroit Lions wanted Golden Tate to sign an extension, but he apparently, had plans to test out free agency.
The Philadelphia Eagles have made a great addition over the last week. Before the trade deadline, they dealt a third-round pick for former Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate. While the move makes sense for the next eight games, it wasn’t exactly a long-term friendly deal for the Eagles. Despite acquiring Tate for 2018, he will become a free agent when the league new year begins.
There is one way the Eagles can make Tate stay on board though. That’s to sign him to an extension. Obviously, it’s too early to make that call as he hasn’t had a single practice with the team yet, but seeing how things go as the season progresses, you never know what could happen. But even if the Eagles did want to extend Tate, there’s a chance that he could decline the offer.
According to Eagles beat reporter Eliot Shorr-Parks, the Detroit Lions had previously offered Tate an extension before they dealt him at the deadline. Clearly, Tate did not have Detroit in his plans beyond 2018, which further indicates that the 30-year-old wideout wants to test out the free agency market once again and potentially cash out.
Could the Eagles change his mind?
Golden Tate joined the Eagles and is already the No. 1 wide receiver when it comes to passing yards. Nobody really doubts Tate’s abilities to improve the Eagles offense almost immediately. With the Eagles spending good money on Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor for next season though, could they possibly get a discount from Tate?
Seeing as though Tate had it in his mind that he was going to test free agency before being on Detroit’s trade block sort of tells you all you need to know.
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He is an aging receiver and wants to cash out while he still can. We could assume that maybe Tate just wanted out of Detroit since they aren’t looking like a worthy playoff team, but that still doesn’t convince us that he doesn’t want to get paid bigger bucks.
The Eagles decision to re-sign Tate will all depend on how their 2019 free agents perform for this second half. As of right now, there is barely a handful of names who are worthy of an extension. Tate will definitely be considered though from here on out.