ESPN metrics: Lions' Golden Tate is underrated

In plain old stats, Golden Tate was the Detroit Lions' leading receiver last season, his first with the team, catching 99 passes for 1,331 yards.

Both of those numbers easily were career highs.

But looking at a couple of advanced metrics, espn.com's Scott Kacsmar says Tate is one of the five most underrated receivers in the NFL, along with the San Francisco 49ers' Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith, the Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown (Central Michigan) and the Washington Redskins' DeSean Jackson.

The numbers that Kacsmar looks at are plus-minus, which measures the percentage of passes a receiver catches that are thrown his way, and YAC+, which measure his yards after catch compared with peers.

Over the past three seasons, Kacsmar says Tate was a plus-17.8, which ranks fifth in plus-minus, and a plus-1.4 in YAC+, which ranks third.

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"Tate is the only wide receiver to rank in the top five in both plus-minus and YAC+ over the past three years," Kacsmar writes. "Some receivers are really good players who don't get the credit they deserve because they are in offenses that don't throw the ball a ton.

"This describes Tate perfectly, as he excelled with Russell Wilson, who has never thrown more than 37 passes in 56 career games with Seattle. Last year, Tate went to Detroit and was a star with Matthew Stafford, who averages 40.2 passes per game, the highest career average in NFL history."

So being paired with Stafford is a good thing? Not necessarily, Kacsmar adds.

"Tate especially shined when Calvin Johnson was injured last year," he writes. "He had five 100-yard games in a six-game span, finishing with 1,331 yards and one of the best debut seasons ever by a free-agent wide receiver. He did this with Stafford, who ranks dead last in quarterback plus-minus since 2012 (minus-43.2). Since 2012, Stafford's completion percentage is only 1.6% above expectations when targeting Calvin Johnson compared to 3.6% higher on throws to Tate.

"Still an effective receiver down the field, Tate has shortened his game, going from an average target of 13.3 yards in 2012 down to 7.8 yards in 2014. This is wise since he's very dynamic with the ball in his hands, ranking in the top four in YAC+ in each of the last two years in two very different offensive systems. With a healthy Johnson on the field, Tate can help Detroit field one of the best duos in the NFL."

Contact Steve Schrader: sschrader@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @schradz.

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