Golden Tate’s wife might have finished what he started.
Elise Tate said her husband is “so underutilized” by the Giants and “was open the entire game” but is not targeted by quarterback Daniel Jones in messages published on her Instagram story. Elise is not a run-of-the-mill player’s wife, either: The @mrsshowtimetate account is verified and has 55,000 followers as an influencer.
This turned out not to be an impetus for the Giants trading Tate before the 4 p.m. deadline on Tuesday as Tate remains with the team. Tate’s frustrations have been mounting for weeks and boiled over Monday during the 25-23 loss to the Buccaneers when he threw his hands in the air after an incompletion went in another direction and then screamed “Throw me the ball!” into the camera after making a difficult touchdown catch.
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“Golden is always a team player and wouldn’t never [sic] say this,” Elise wrote. “I can’t watch such a playmaker be underutilized.”
Tate, 32, has not been available to the media upon request in either of the last two weeks. Elise claimed he had no knowledge of her publicly airing the family grievances, but it is not uncommon for players in this day and age to use social media to force their way off a team.
“He’s gonna kill me for saying all this so I’ll [probably] have to delete this soon so until he sees it … and his teamplayer self, gonna make me take this down.”
The Giants were unlikely to get more than a late-round draft choice for Tate, who signed a four-year, $37.5 million contract with the Giants in March 2019. He has $4.5 million in salary remaining this season, but a team could get out of his contract with no dead cap space in 2021.
The veteran wide receiver claimed before leaving the Eagles in free agency that the priority in the twilight of his career was chasing a second Super Bowl ring, but he signed with a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2011 and is 3-15 when he plays (four games missed due to a PEDs suspension and two missed due to injuries).
Tate has 22 catches for 226 yards this season but has scored touchdowns in back-to-back games.
“HE NEEDS TO BW [sic] FED THE BALL,” Elise wrote in all caps. “Period. Watch the film. He always comes down with the ball.”
She continued, “I’m lit. 11 years in the NFL I’ve never said something like this online, but it’s excruciating to watch and killing his stats this year but you can’t have yards on a few to no targets. He’s CRAZY making the most of what comes his way that’s for sure.”
Giants coach Joe Judge and Tate’s teammates downplayed his frustrations — and the pointed criticism of his diminished role in the offense — after the loss to the Buccaneers.
“I’ve got to do a good job of getting everyone the ball and giving guys the opportunity to make plays,” Jones said. “He’s a great player for us and a valuable part of our offense, so we’ll continue to try to get him the ball. He stepped up and made a big play there at the end of the game. We’ll continue to work to get him the ball.”
Jones’ favorite target, Darius Slayton, added, “I wasn’t over there when he said it. I didn’t hear him say it, so you have to ask him.”
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The comments certainly are not going to sit well with Judge, who prefers to keep controversies in-house. Judge supported Tate after he and Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey — the father of Tate’s two nieces — got in a fight after the Giants-Rams game on Oct. 4.
Asked about Tate’s frustrations Monday night, Judge said, “This guy comes to work every day with a good attitude. We have a lot of fun working with him and this guy’s been productive for us. I thought it was a heck of a catch down the stretch, a tough catch, definitely a high degree of difficulty.”