With AJ Green and John Ross out of the Bengals’ lineup, Auden Tate was forced into a starting role. In response, he’s balled out pretty hard and exceeded expectations over the past few weeks. Coming off an 11 target game against the Ravens, Tate put up a solid 91 yards on five receptions in a tough matchup against Marlon Humphrey. Although it looks like Green could be back soon, Tate has been good enough to remain in the Bengals’ lineup until Ross gets off IR.
The big bodied Auburn Tiger has not been the weapon in the red zone that we thought he’d be (one touchdown reception), but he’s been targeted double-digit times twice in the last four games — including six and 11 targets in the last two games without Ross.
Tate gets the Jalen Ramsey-less Jaguars this week, before facing the Jalen Ramsey-led Rams in two weeks. Tate benefits from the consistent Tyler Boyd opposite of him, so one would expect him to feast on the Jags’ blah secondary this week.
The Wolf is a little lower on Tate than I am this week, ranking him as his WR39 (-5 vs ECR). But, I would personally feel comfortable trotting him out as my Flex if it’s a toss up. He’s still surprisingly available in 71 percent of leagues.
