Ben Tate doesn't do the usual athlete cliches. Even when it'd be easier for him to say something trite and meaningless that fits into what everyone expects to hear, the Houston Texans fourth-year running back won't play that game.
With all-world tailback Arian Foster on crutches (for the moment) and sidelined for the rest of the Texans' Organized Team Activities (glorified spring practice in shorts) and the quickly following mandatory mini camp, Tate will not pretend like a big opportunity's opened up in front of him. Not even for a second.
"Like I said, it's OTAs," Tate says when pressed by a TV reporter who appears to be after the easy drop-in soundbite. ". . . There are no pads. It's not football."
Tate isn't going to play into any May hype. He knows real football players do not prove themselves in May. Especially a tailback who relishes dishing out contact as he runs.
"If Ben’s in one piece, Ben is going to be very productive for this team.”
"I've been around here for a while now," Tate notes, smiling at any thought that OTAs will have a significant say in his future.
None of this means that Tate does not take his offseason preparation seriously. By all accounts, he's shown up in great shape. He completes runs all the way through in the drills. Tate's not slacking off.
He just refuses to be even a little bit phony.
This might have hurt Tate a little last season when nagging injuries helped limit him to 65 carries (compared to 175 the year before) and he kept telling reporters that it was just part of the game. Tate didn't always sound like he was dying to get back out onto the field. He didn't play the injured athlete quote game.
Then again, you don't get 54,000 Twitter followers as an NFL backup running back without doing things a little differently (for comparison, Texans starting quarterback Matt Schaub has only a thousand or so more followers than Tate). This is a 24-year-old who's always been conscious of getting out his message his way.
One of the first things Tate did as a pro is hire a sports social media consulting firm. He likes to chart his own destiny.
Which is why no one has to tell Ben Tate what 2013 means to his career.
"It's a big one," Tate says. "It's the last year of my contract."
A Forever Understudy?
Tate is finishing up the rookie deal he signed coming out of Auburn as a highly-touted second round pick, one who many penciled in as the Texans future starting running back before a major leg injury ended his rookie year before it even began and Foster burst onto the scene. This upcoming season will determine his NFL future.
He needs a return to his near 1,000-yard season of 2011 for anyone in the NFL to seriously look at him as a potential starting tailback again.
And Tate's not afraid to acknolwedge the urgency. Again, many athletes refuse to admit that a contract year is any kind of driving factor — evidence be damned. But not Tate.
He's moving through OTAs like a man on a mission. Even if it's not real football.
"Ben's fine," Texans coach Gary Kubiak says. "Obviously, he steps up (with Foster out) and works as the starter, but Ben’s been working good either way. He’s had a really good offseason. He’s been here every day."
To Kubiak it comes down to one overriding factor with Tate.
"I just want him to be healthy, that’s the biggest thing," the coach says. "When Ben’s on the field, he’s productive.
" . . . If Ben’s in one piece, Ben is going to be very productive for this team.”
"It's a big one," Tate says. "It's the last year of my contract."
Tate is not talking numbers. Not yards, not carries, not even the amount of zeroes he hopes for on his next contract (which will likely come somewhere else besides Houston — especially if he runs like the best backup tailback in the NFL again).
He's focusing on something else.
"To help this team win games and get to the Super Bowl," Tate says when asked his goals.
You know he's telling the truth. This is Ben Tate. He doesn't say things just to say them. This is nobody's pawn. Ben Tate will barrel over fake platitudes too.
Ben Tate knows he needs to pull away from the pack in his contract year with the Texans.
