The Giants’ replacement for Odell Beckham Jr. also didn’t buy a house to sell it.
Golden Tate brought a knack for circus catches to the Giants and has remained productive throughout the most frustrating season of his 10-year career. But, as Beckham handles questions about his future by pointing to his real-estate investment in Cleveland, Tate could enter an offseason facing unexpected uncertainty.
Tate signed a free agent deal in March of four years and $37.5 million and moved his family into a house purchased from a former Giant. His contract terms, however, allow the Giants to void all remaining guaranteed money because of his suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. Getting cut is an unlikely outcome made more realistic if the Giants change general managers.
“There’s not 100 percent certainty in really anything,” Tate told The Post. “I definitely hope and plan to be here. I think I’ve proven to be a solid leader for our locker room. I think I’ve proven to show up and be a professional every day. I feel like I’ve been productive, and I haven’t shown a decline. But I don’t know what people upstairs think.”
Tate, 31, is one of a handful of game-changers on a roster depleted of high-end talent, and the Giants will have more than $72 million in salary cap space to address other needs. Tate’s 2020 cap charge is $10.5 million.
On the other hand, he is older than fellow stars Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram and Saquon Barkley, and rookie receiver Darius Slayton’s development lessens the need for the veteran. Fresh eyes could see Tate’s skill set as redundant with Shepard’s.
“This is the toughest year for me mentally because I started the first few games at home without this organization knowing who I am as a person or a player,” Tate said. “I felt like I was letting myself down, but also letting my team down and my family down off the jump of a new chapter in my life. Not being here — not because I was injured but because I was advised incorrectly [by a fertility doctor] — put me on edge a lot.”
Tate is second to Slayton with 512 receiving yards and five touchdowns despite missing four games due to suspension and another with a concussion. His tipped-ball scores of 64 yards against the Patriots and 51 last week against the Dolphins could be the top two on the team’s season-ending highlight reel.
The making catches with high degrees of difficulty has been part of Tate’s career, just like his being one of the best in the NFL at accumulating yards after catch. He caught the “Fail Mary” mess-up by officials in a 2012 Seahawks-Packers game, and an overtime game-winner tiptoeing the sideline between two defenders in a 2016 Lions-Vikings game.
“I’ve always been a gritty, find-a-way type of receiver,” Tate said. “If you look at me run routes or in a non-contact practice, I probably look like a regular guy. Some might even ask, ‘How is this guy on his 10th year?’ During the games, there is a competitiveness that turns on that I believe any ball thrown to me I can find a way to catch.”
Tate doesn’t do unusual drills to practice grabbing the ball from the jaws of an interception. Maybe it is just the right combination of hand-eye coordination, instincts and talent, as offensive coordinator Mike Shula has suggested.
“My mentality is I don’t know how many opportunities I’m going to get in my career, the season, a particular game, so I try to make the most of them,” Tate said. “I don’t take anything for granted. I’m a believer that any ball to me is a good ball.”
The 51-yarder in the second quarter against the Dolphins tied the score and energized a crowd anxious over how Eli Manning’s farewell game would go. Tate admittedly showboated his way into the end zone.
“That play kind of happened to me in slow motion,” Tate said. “The ball got caught in the sun and the lights. I knew about where it was going to land and it never appeared. He deflected it where I was going and I grabbed it.”
It led to the first win of Tate’s season. The Giants had been 0-8 in games in which he played.
“It’s something I never experienced and was not sure know how to react to,” Tate said. “One thing I appreciate about this organization is the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff consistently … haven’t separated.
“But I won’t have any problem personally letting this season go and hopefully forgetting about it, coming back next April with a new attitude, ready to go and ready to chase our division.”