Tate felt as though he deserved more for his efforts.
Former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate has revealed that the offer he received from the franchise was “laughable” as he looks ahead to his new challenge with the Detroit Lions.
The 25-year-old signed a five-year deal worth $31m with Detroit last week, but he has now revealed his disappointment over the way in which he left Seattle.
Having helped claim the first ever Super Bowl championship for Seattle last season, Tate admits that he was hurt by the reaction he received from some fans after he announced he would be leaving.
The receiver feels as though the organisation could have done more and offered more to show their appreciation and loyalty, but instead they were looking at their future options without him.
“I’m just appalled at the attitude I’ve received on Twitter from people I thought were Golden Tate fans,” Tate said Tuesday on 710 ESPN Seattle.
“People are starting to show their true colors. I think the world of the 12s [Seahawks fans], but there is a large group who very quickly turned on me. It kind of bothered me because I felt like I gave everything I possibly could to the city of Seattle.
“I was out in the community and I played my tail off every game. And I helped bring the first ever Super Bowl [championship] to Seattle. I don’t care who you are. If you have an opportunity to earn way more money in another city, you’ll leave in a second. Every single person in the world would have done what I did.”
Tate believes that the fans were perhaps expecting too much from him after he revealed that he was willing to take a hometown discount, but he wasn’t expecting such a significant drop in the offer that he received from the Seahawks.
“I didn’t mean a 40 percent discount,” Tate said. “I’m going to earn in one year at Detroit what Seattle was going to pay me for two years. Seattle offered numbers that were laughable. I thought, ‘I’ve given you everything and this is what you give me?’
“Considering I was there for four years, and started two of those years. I missed one game in those two years. I did everything right and wasn’t a trouble maker. And what they offered, I was like, ‘Is this serious?’ The numbers [the Seahawks] shot at me were not first-priority, like they said they wanted to do for me to stay in Seattle.”
Nevertheless, Tate is now looking ahead to his new adventure in Detroit where he will hope to play an integral role in the offensive unit alongside Calvin Johnson, and admits that the Lions’ game may well benefit him.
Moving from a run-heavy offense to a pass-happy offense will give him the chance “to be the player I always imagined being” according to Tate, but he revealed that he left on good terms with the Seahawks as an organisation with former coach Pete Carroll insisting that he is there for him whenever needed.
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