What can we expect from Golden Tate this year?

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Onto the mailbag:

Q: As a new Lev Bell owner, after trading Ekeler & R Woods for him, who is the preferred handcuff to roster: T Montgomery or J Samuels? Also, I’ve waited 4 weeks with G Tate on my bench, what is your feeling on his floor and his ceiling ROS? Thanks!
— @AndeTheEngineer

If Jaylen Samuels is still on your waiver wire, go add him right now. James Conner still isn’t practicing last time I checked and even if he is, what we saw Monday night against the Bengals might be the Steelers new offense with Mason Rudolph at the helm. Samuels carried the ball 10 times Monday and played wildcat quarterback, throwing three passes, one of them for a touchdown. He’s going to be much more involved in his offense moving forward it seems than Montgomery will be with the Jets.

I’m very excited for the return of Golden Tate. I’ve been stashing him in a couple of leagues waiting fo this day to arrive and it makes me even happier that he’ll be playing with Danny Dimes rather than Eli Manning. We remember Tate last having a hard time getting on the same page as Carson Wentz and getting lost in the Eagles offense after they traded for him. But don’t forget, he started the season with the Lions and was on pace for 1182 yards and seven touchdowns. He can still ball and ball hard. I think Tate could end up being a consistent WR2 for you and finish in the top 25 at receiver for the rest of the season. This of course all without seeing how he looks in New York’s offense but I have faith.

Q: Auden Tate or Allison?
— @tpec3099

Auden Tate in my book has the higher upside. He’s going to be the number one outside receiver for Andy Dalton against the Cardinals now that John Ross is on IR. We’ve seen their chemistry already flash and in an increased role, against a suspect secondary, it could be a big day for Tate. Geronimo Allison I understand should have a bigger workload Sunday with Devante Adams out, but the Cowboys secondary has been tough this season and I don’t looooove the matchup. Allison probably has the higher floor, but Tate has the higher ceiling.

Also Auden Tate: 6-foot-5, 230? That’s a big boy.

Q: I’ve got Ekeler, Ingram, Mixon, Keenan Allen and Godwin. 2 RB, 1 WR and a Flex for .5 PPR. Which one of those 5 gets benched this week? I keep making the wrong choice (i sat ekeler wk1, Ingram wk3, Godwin wk4)
— @quattroecc4

Keenan Allen and Chris Godwin are must starts until the end of time. Even though it may seem he and Mike Evans switch off good games, you can risk missing a good game from Godwin because those are GOOD games. So there’s your WR and Flex.

I’m starting Mark Ingram against a Steelers defense that’s allowing fifth most points to opposing backs, especially on a week in which the offense is going to be gunning hard to prove that their outing last week against the Browns was a fluke. So that juts leaves the choice between Mixon and Ekeler. I’m still going Ekeler here. First the matchup is better as the Broncos defense has been less than stellar against the run but more so, I don’t think Melvin Gordon is going to supplant Ekeler as the Chargers’ number one back right away. I’d still trust Ekeler to get me solid RB2 production this week.

Q: Deon Cain?
— @andrew_schuba

Deon Cain is a professional football player for the Indianapolis Colts. He plays wide receiver and went to Clemson. I had to look that up, so I guess we both didn’t know who he was.

Oh, you want to know if you should be starting him this week. Ah, got it. Thought you were just wondering who he was. I would not recommend starting him this week. Even though the Colts are banged up at receiver, Parris Campbell, Chester Rodgers and Zach Pascal are all likely ahead of Cain on the depth chart and certainly ahead of him in fantasy rankings. If you’re super, super, super needy at wide receiver, I’d still start someone else.

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