Rookie Tate looks to be a quick study
FOXBOROUGH - Whether rookie wide receiver/return man Brandon Tate's knee will be healthy enough for him to play for the Patriots this year is a mystery, but it had to be considered a good sign that Tate was on the field, wearing No. 19, yesterday for the first day of the team's rookie minicamp.
The extent of Tate's activity was catching balls for coaches, but he was just happy to have a helmet on again.
"Yeah, man, it felt real good," said Tate. "I told coach, I'm going to go ahead and dress up like I'm going to be out there because I haven't dressed up in a long time."
Tate tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee during his senior season at the University of North Carolina and had surgery Oct. 15. He did not participate in any drills yesterday, but said he was able to learn by observing.
"You can pick up a whole lot," said Tate, a third-round pick. "Like I said, it's a mental thing. You've got to learn from the classroom before you go on the field. I'm just learning a lot, so that when I do get ready to play, I'll be ready."
Tate said he didn't have a timetable for his recovery. He demurred when asked if he'd be ready for the start of training camp in late July, which would be about 9 1/2 months after his surgery.
"I'm just going to come in and work hard with the trainers and whenever that time comes I'm pretty sure they'll let me know, so I'm just working hard right now," Tate said.
Tate is the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-time leader in kickoff return yards and one of only nine players in NCAA history to return a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same game. He admitted he started to twitch a bit when the Patriots moved to punt return drills.
According to a Foxsports.com report, Tate tested positive for marijuana at the combine in February. His knee injury and that reported positive test, which would result in automatic entrance into the NFL's substance-abuse program, likely scared some teams away.
"I'm real glad that Coach [Bill ] Belichick took a chance on me," said Tate. "I'm on the straight path now and I'm ready to work for him."
"It just felt like given the player, the situation, and what the compensation was it was something that we wanted to do, and we feel like Alex is a good player," said Belichick. "He's done a lot of different things for Tampa Bay, in the passing game, in the running game, pass protection; [he is] a smart guy, athletic."
Belichick said former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden was able to use the 26-year-old Smith in a variety of ways - playing on the line, playing off the line, going in motion, being split out. He also said Smith can play on special teams.
"We'll see how all that comes together, but we felt like at this point it would give us good depth at that position," Belichick said. "We felt like the compensation was fair, so we went ahead and did it."
