BEREA, Ohio - Browns running back Ben Tate views his battle for the starting job with rookie Terrance West as "really not anything."

In fact, in Tate's mind, it's not even close.

"Truthfully, I don't look at it like that,'' Tate said Thursday at the conclusion of minicamp. "You guys may see it like that, but there's nobody in that room that scares me. I'm just honest."



Tate, signed away from Houston as an unrestricted free agent, has spent his career in the shadows of premier back Arian Foster, and isn't concerned about a rookie stealing his reps.

"Honestly I'm not worried about that, because I know when I'm on my game -- no disrespect to any other running back here -- but there's no one that can touch me or that's close to what I do,'' he said. "I battled in and out every day with what some people consider the best running back in the league in Arian Foster. I've seen the best. I went against him every day. I battled it, so this around here to me is really not anything."

He said Kyle Shanahan's zone-blocking scheme suits him well and he expects to have a breakout year.

"I expect big things out of myself,'' said Tate. "I'm excited. No way in the world I'm going to drop the ball on this opportunity.''

He acknowledged that competition of any kind is healthy and that he'll work as hard as he did when he was battling Foster.

"If I come in here and say, 'Oh, I've got this locked down,' and don't compete, that's how you lose your job,'' he said. "That's how you find your way out of the league fast. I'm a natural competitor.

"That's just in me. I went out there in Houston every day and tried to compete with Arian knowing I wasn't going to be the starter no matter what I did because he had already done things. So I'm going to naturally compete, and I hope all the other running backs want to compete as well. As a group that's how we're going to get better as a unit.''

Despite the push from West, Tate is helping the third-round pick from Towson.

"He's a rookie so he has some difficult moments,'' said Tate. "He has some flashes of good moments, so right now, I'm just there trying to help him out through every aspect of the game, because this team is going to need both of us. I think he can be a definitely good quality running back, so I'm a team guy, so I'm trying to help all the running backs, not just him.''