Wide receiver Brandon Tate is entering his fourth season with the Bengals, but he understand that he is not a shoo-in for a spot on the final roster. After all, he hasn’t provided much offensively for the team, compiling 217 yards and one touchdown in three seasons. He’s made the majority of his impact on special teams, but he’s now battling younger players who could contribute in the return game and in the passing game.
Having been in the league for five seasons, Tate knows that competition is just part of the job. Via ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey…
“We’ve got a new O-coordinator (Hugh Jackson) and the one thing he stressed is that everything is open,” Tate said. “He doesn’t want nobody to be comfortable.”
Special teams coach Darrin Simmons agreed with the sentiment…
“That’s what you always try to create in training camp. You try to create competition,” Simmons said. “Everybody should feel heat because there’s always somebody right behind you nipping at your tail.”
Still, the coaches are confident that Tate can rise above the rest…
“He’s got a lot of fight this camp; there’s no doubt about it,” receivers coach James Urban said. “But I’ve always felt that way with him. Brandon is a proud man. So he knows if he has any sense of feeling that he’s fighting for a job, then he’s going to come out there every day and fight for his job.”
Let’s check out some more notes from the AFC North…
- We learned earlier today that Bengals receiver Marvin Jones will miss “a few weeks.” Albert Breer of the NFL Network tweets that the team is hoping Jones can return following their bye week, which would be against the Patriots on October 5th.
- Browns tight end Jordan Cameron indicated to August Fagerstrom of the Akron Beacon Journal that extension talks are going well. “Yeah, it’s positive,” Cameron said. “The whole process has been positive. I’ll leave it at that. It’s ongoing and it’s going well.”
- While there may be a lot of hype surrounding Browns rookie Johnny Manziel, quarterback Brian Hoyer made it clear that the starting gig belongs to the veteran. “To me, this is my team until someone else tells me otherwise,” Hoyer told Vic Carucci of ClevelandBrowns.com.