Lions Sign 5-Year, $31 Million Deal With Golden Tate
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - The Detroit Lions already have one of the best running back tandems in the NFL with Reggie Bush and Joique Bell, and now it appears the team also has one of the league's most formidable receiving tandems as well.
Tate led the Super Bowl champion Seahawks with 898 yards on 64 receptions in 2013. He caught 41 passes for first downs, including five touchdowns. Entering his fifth year in the league, Tate has 2,195 career receiving yards.
The wide receiver wasted no time tweeting out the news and his thanks to Seattle.
At the Allen Park facility earlier Wednesday to sign his own new contract, running back Joique Bell told reporters he also spotted Tate in the building.
"We might have walked past each other in the hallway as I was walking out from signing my deal," Bell said, smiling. "He was kind of walking - I don't know where he was walking to, but he was walking toward where I walked out from after I signed my contract.
"I don't know what that means," Bell added with a chuckle. "I don't know. [He] definitely would be a valuable piece to this already deadly offense."
A deal with Tate had looked like a good possibility in hours leading up to the signing, with Tate on the premises. Though Tate was not made available to media before signing, the reporter for the team's website provided updates that seemed like positive signs for Detroit.
Even before Tate signed, reports of the wide receiver at Detroit's facility definitely had Seattle fans concerned - and evidently for good reason.
The Lions needed a number two receiver to complement Johnson after releasing veteran Nate Burleson earlier this offseason.
