"I'm not going to lie: I thought I would be a hot commodity," Tate said. "I thought I'd have seven or eight teams want me.
"That wasn't the case at all."
The Detroit Lions expressed the most interest, and eventually landed Tate with a five-year, $31 million contract. They beat out the Jets and Jaguars, as well as an offer from the Seahawks that Tate has characterized as "laughable."
And that offer surprised him, considering he led Seattle in receiving with 64 catches for 898 yards and five touchdowns last season. Plus, they won a Super Bowl.
"Their problem," Tate said. "Now they don't have me or Percy (Harvin)."
"Most importantly, we're winning ballgames. That's all that matters. I was OK with having 30 yards a game last year because we were winning and Super Bowl champs. The fact now I get to ball out, and also win games, it doesn't get any better."
"They thought they had five, six, seven top receivers (to choose from) in this (draft) class, so there wasn't a need to pay a lot of money when you could get a rookie for pennies, I guess, relatively speaking," Tate said. "So maybe that's why. But I'm here, I'm wanted here, we're sitting 7-2 and I'm playing decent football."
"I still root for the Seahawks," he said. "That's the team that drafted me, that's the team that gave me the opportunity to be in this position. So I have a lot of respect and appreciation for Seattle.
"I wish the best for them ... except when the play us, obviously."
The Lions do not play the Seahawks in the regular season, which means such a meeting would have to occur in the playoffs.
"Fate will unwind as it must, my English teacher told me," Tate said of a potential matchup against his old team in the postseason. "I think that's Beowulf."
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