April 15th, 2010 
Jesse Bartolis 
Posted in 
I”m no longer taking requests for prospect profiles. Give your opinions on any of the ones that are up! check them out. Leave comments. That’s why I write them I love the discussions.
I have Joe McKnight, Deji Karim and a few others out recently. I have DT Nate Collins and LB Deokda Watson coming out in th enext cuople of days before my big board and my official Giants mock draft.
Video
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBkonPBFGY[/pro-player]
Measurables
5’11 218 pounds.
From fantasyfootballtoolbox.com
| 40-Yard Dash | 4.43 |
|---|---|
| Bench press | 26 |
| Vertical jump | 40.5 |
| Broad jump | 10’04 |
| Three-cone drill | 6.91 |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.12 |
Ben Tate was a top performer (according to NFL.com) for running backs in the 40 yard dash (third best behind C.J. Spiller and Javhid Best), Bench Press, vertical jump, Broad jump, 3 cone drill, and 20 yard shuttle.
Stats
Career: 678 attempts, 3,321 yards 24 touchdowns.
2009: 263 attempts, 1362 yards, 10 touchdowns.
Big Games:
vs Missippi State 20 carries 157 yards 1 touchdown
@ Arkansas 22 carries 184 yards 2 touchdowns, 3 catches for 16 yards
vs Missippi 25 carries 144 yards 1 TD, 1 catch 1 yard TD
Games Under 80 yards and under 4 yards per carry
Four (Vs Alabama, vs West Virgina, @ LSU, @ Georgia)
Scouting Reports
| Prototypical size for a workhorse running back. A powerful runner between the tackles. Has the strength to consistently run through arm tackles. A decent receiver out of the backfield. | ||
| Weaknesses: | ||
| Speed is marginal at best. Agility is lacking. Already has a decent amount of wear and tear on his body; tends to run over defenders rather than try to avoid them. Very cocky; got into a war of words with Mark Ingram as to who the best running back in Alabama. | ||
| Comments: | ||
| Tate has the size to be a starting running back, but his lack of athleticism may hold him back. He would fit best in an offense where he can be paired with smaller, faster change-of-pace back. |
Scouting Report:
Ben Tate: No. 44, RB, 5-11, 218Tate is a thick, well-built back who possesses a nice combination of vision, balance and footwork for a guy his size. He does a nice job changing directions cleanly and quickly, finding the cutback lane and pressing the hole up the field. He exhibits good power in his lower half and consistently runs behind his pads and churns his legs through contact. Tate isn’t explosive and displays a decent first step but mostly plays at one speed and struggles to create plays at the second level. He’s more of a one-cut downhill guy who lacks the wiggle to consistently make a man miss and separate out of his breaks. He runs a lot out of the spread offense but doesn’t have the type of gear to routinely outrun defenders to the edge and will dance too much behind the line. Tate is at his best when asked to press the hole, sidestep a tackle and drive into the open field. He isn’t a great athlete for his size but is patient, has a natural feel for the run game and can run effectively between the tackles. He isn’t a guy who will carry the load in the NFL, but he has the power to spell a starter during a game.
/6/10: Ben Tate is an extremely frustrating prospect for me. He has all the physical talent in the world and showed to me at the Combine that he had even more physical raw talent then I had thought before. He ran well with a 4.45 at 5-11 219. He jumped 10 foot 4 inches in the broad jump and had a vertical leap of 40.5 inches and he looked amazing in both the running back and the pass catching drills. He has looked great on tape before in the past, like a first rounder, but for every great game, he would have a game where he would pretty much completely disappear. He would be lazy, wouldn’t break tackles. He’d go down on first contact way too often. He’d fumble. He’d struggle to average 3 yards per carry seemingly every other week. He can’t be doing that if he’s going to be in the NFL. He’ll need to be consistent and show up to play every week if he wants to be a starting running back in the NFL like he’s capable, because if he’s a starting running back and has a back game, he could lose the game for his team. I don’t think he’ll translate well to a league where he has to take a lot of contact from a lot of big guys because he doesn’t handle contact well. He’ll be best in a one cut and boom zone blocking offense because that’s his game, hole, explode through, get hit, go down. Even in his good games, he wouldn’t break a ton of tackles, at least not as many as he should for his size. He’s not a true big play threat and doesn’t turn the corner well. He has decent hands, but not great, and he doesn’t pass block well. I like his upside, but I don’t think he has the will and tenacity to be a feature back in the level.
NFL Comparison: Rudi Johnson
Big Board Rankings
Draftace.com 10th best rated RB
NFLdraft101.com 58th
Football Fan Spot 131 st overall
ESPN Scouts INC 9th best RB
Drafttek.com #70 overall
Where the Mocks Have Him Falling
NFldraft101.com Round 4 pick #3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Drafttek.com Round 2 pick #63Colts
Walterfootball.com Round 2 pick #51 Houston Texans
NFL Draftsite Round 4 pick #131 New Orleans Saints
Bartolis Summary and Final Verdict
Ben Tate has the necessary size speed combination to be an effective N.F.L. Back. He tested very well and he should becuase he’s very gifted athletically. He’s built well and at times he was dominating in the run game, but there are consistency problems where Tate had some huge dud games too.
This year he had four games where he could not even manage four rushing yards per game, and that’s not great because that’s like a third of the games college teams play, and most of the time they don’t play good competition in all 12 games.
You get a little nervous about players who don’t play up to their expectations who don’t seem interested in playing sometimes. Tate had very high expectations and did not live up to them at Auburn.
Final Verdict
One thing Ben Tate does well is hit the hole hard and fast. He’s definitely a north/south runner who wants to get up field as quickly as possible. He’s adequate in the passing game as a blocker and reciever and he has a nice second gear.
Hes’ talented enough to be a good back in the N.F.L., but is he a good enough football player? I’m not sure.
There are only three RBs I think Jerry Reese will be interested in this year before round four: Jahvid Best, Dexter McCluster, and C.J. Spiller.
I think Ben Tate will be drafted in round two, or very early round three becuase he tests well and he was fairly productive and has shown flahses of excellence.
I do not think the Giants should draft Ben Tate, and honestly I would not either before round four.
Previous Profiles
DT/NT Dan Williams (Updated with K.C. Joyner’s Draft Lab 2/7)
DT Jared Odrick
OT Anthony Davis (UPDATED 2/5/10)
ILB Brandon Spikes
ILB Rolando McClain
Tags: 
Great job Bartolis with all these profiles. I think Tate has potential to be a productive back in the NFL, but as a Giants fan I couldn’t agree with you more about McKnight. Yes, Spiller will be a dynamic play-maker, but the Giants have far more important issues to take care of in the first round. McKnight can be a great late round value pick. He wont have to try and live up to Reggie Bush and the USC scandal will be behind him. McKnight will allow us to open the playbook a little for him and put him in various positions. I look for him to be a very solid back, no necessarily an every-down back, but definitely a back who can make big plays in the run and pass.
Concerning the first round, I think the Giants should do whatever they can to land McClain. I think we realistically have one team to deal with, the Dolphins. With Denver getting rid of Marshall, I believe they will go WR in the first. Miami has a few options, MLB is one of them. McClain is going to be a stud and will be a great leader of our defense for the next ten years. Please Jerry, lets get McClain
I really hope the Dansby signing means the Fins opt for Williams.
Now if we can just get Jacksonville to ignore McClain we might be ok.