Golden Tate Says He'd 'Love' to Play with Tom Brady, Patriots After Eagles Stint

Free agent wide receiver Golden Tate said during an interview on the ProStyle podcast with former NFL receiver Earl Bennett that he would be interested in signing with the New England Patriots this offseason. 

Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com shared Tate's comments on potentially joining the Patriots:

"I would love it. I would love it. That organization, they have proven to be champions year-in and year-out. They work hard for sure, but you know where you're going to be at the end of the season: You're going to be not only looking at the playoffs, but you're looking at maybe a first-round bye with this team. You gotta admire that organization, they do things right, they’ve been doing it for a long, long, long time." 

Tate also said he would enjoy playing with Tom Brady and Julian Edelman:

"I would definitely love being a part of something like that and catch a few passes from old Tommy Boy. Julian is a buddy of mine, I'm really good buddies with him. I've heard good things from Kyle Van Noy, who got traded from Detroit and went there and has just been balling out since. It's, as I said, a great organization. I definitely would not mind going over there for sure."

Tate, 30, had an interesting 2018 campaign, catching 74 passes for 795 yards and four touchdowns for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia, where he was traded to midseason. Tate struggled to make a major impact for the Eagles during the regular season, catching 30 passes for 278 yards and a score in eight games, though he did catch the game-winning touchdown pass against the Chicago Bears in the postseason.

His skill-set appears to overlap with Nelson Agholor, however, and it's very possible the Eagles will either let Tate walk or cut Agholor. If they side with the younger Agholor—who is owed $9.3 million in 2019, per Spotrac, a significant chunk of change—Tate will almost assuredly end up on a new team.

As for Tate, he would be an interesting addition to the Patriots. He's a solid route runner and excellent after the catch, though his skill-set might overlap a bit with Edelman like it did with Agholor in Philadelphia. In addition, the Patriots could really use a field-stretching option at wide receiver, which they lost when Josh Gordon was suspended again.

The one thing the Patriots could provide Tate, however, is an excellent chance to win another Super Bowl, one of his remaining goals in the NFL:

"My time is limited, I don't know if it's going to be three, four, five, six [years]. I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm on the tail end of my career for sure. I want to get another ring. Winning the Super Bowl was probably one of the highlights of my career, or the highlight of my career, and I want to get back there so much more. That's what the goal is."

And as long as Brady and Bill Belichick are in New England, the Patriots will be contenders.