ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Golden Tate lay on the grass last Wednesday morning. His teammates were practicing around him, but in this period, Tate was on the sidelines, not involved.

It didn’t mean he was resting or watching, though. Instead of idling, Tate – and later, Lance Moore – lay down and lifted their heads up slightly. An assistant then started firing footballs at them from different angles, with the goal to catch every one.

It's a drill that Tate said comes from Detroit’s coaches, but it can only enhance what might be considered Tate’s best attribute – his hands.

Golden Tate has increased his reception total in each of his first five NFL seasons, from 21 to 35 to 45 to 64 to 99 last season. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

“It definitely helps us,” Tate said. “We can all sit here and look at a ball and catch it but to be on the ground, have to reach different, from different eye levels, is important.”

This is just another drill for Tate in his quest to improve his catching ability. He’s already considered one of the best receivers in the league and had career-bests with 99 receptions and 1,331 yards in 2014.

Unlike a lot of the top receivers, though, Tate is not particularly tall and not particularly fast. He isn’t like his counterpart on the Lions, Calvin Johnson. Instead, he’s an instinctually gifted receiver with exceptional hands and the temperament to make plays when it counts.

“He’s got incredible body control,” quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. “There are some times where we’ll just laugh at him because he’ll be running full speed, stop, and just run back to the huddle and keep it going. You can slow down at some point.

“But he’s born with that type of body that there’s a big-time quick twitch muscle in his body. It’s his mindset. He’s as competitive an athlete when you get him in competitive situations as I’ve ever been around. Absolutely.”

Tate has been that way for years, dating to playing sports in the street as a kid through high school, Notre Dame, Seattle and now Detroit. Tate’s shiftiness has led to massive yards-after-catch numbers – something he explained last season as mostly instinct, but something he can refine throughout practice.

Some of it comes from his initial football position as well. Tate was a running back in high school and didn’t become a wide receiver until his freshman year at Notre Dame. When he made the conversion, he couldn’t run many routes – to the point that in his first few college games, all he ran were go routes.

Over time he became a refined receiver, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the best in college football during his junior season before he turned pro. Tate can be so slippery that at times it looks like he’s starting to move before he even hits the ground after a catch.

“I guess I kind of brace my fall and kind of stick,” Tate said. “I never notice it. I’ve been blessed with incredible hips, I guess.

“Strong hips and hammys and I just kind of take advantage of it.”

That’s mostly the instinctual stuff. The refinement comes when he practices planting and cutting upfield during drills and also running through a defense after he catches a pass. By having the constant movement in practice, it helps him on Sundays when defenders are trying to drag him down.

How his hands developed is a little bit different.

Tate was a baseball player throughout college – he hit .329 as a sophomore at Notre Dame – and played center field. Having to track balls in the outfield and then make quick throws helped build his hands.

Some of it is genetic, too, as his father was a wide receiver at Tennessee State and was a fifth-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 1984.

So a little bit of everything – instincts, a lot of practice, genetics and the general annoyance of being tackled – helped turn Tate into a Pro Bowl receiver.

“You get him into a competitive situation and he just has this ability to see the ball and he’s got great body control and a competitive mindset,” Orlovsky said. “I think that allows him to go after a ball confidently because he’s so competitive. He’s not going after a ball in a shy way.

“He’s going after it to attack it, like, 'It’s my ball.' He thinks it’s his ball every play. That’s the aspect that allows him to catch the ball so well.”