Golden Tate was not pleased with Seahawks' contract offer

Before he signed with the Detroit Lions last week, wide receiver Golden Tate received interest from four teams: the Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets. During his introductory press conference, Tate indicated that the Lions and Seahawks were the only two teams seriously in the running for him, but it sounds like even Seattle wasn't truly in the mix based on what they offered him.

During an interview this week, Tate expressed his displeasure with the contract offer the Seahawks sent his way. He actually seemed quite insulted by the offer, and it sounds like choosing to sign with the Lions was a no-brainer considering they gave him a five-year deal worth $31 million. From ESPN:

"I'm going to earn in one year at Detroit what Seattle was going to pay me for two years. Seattle offered numbers that were laughable. I thought, 'I've given you everything and this is what you give me?'

"Considering I was there for four years, and started two of those years. I missed one game in those two years. I did everything right and wasn't a trouble maker. And what they offered, I was like, 'Is this serious?' The numbers [the Seahawks] shot at me were not first-priority, like they said they wanted to do for me to stay in Seattle."

Tate later said that he understands that "it's a business." Clearly, rather than spend more to retain Tate, the Seahawks decided to put that money to use for other areas of their team. However, Tate also said that he felt "undervalued" by the Seahawks, and he isn't too thrilled with the negative reaction he's received from some Seahawks fans on Twitter since signing with Detroit. It seems that some fans need to realize that there are two sides to this business, and for Tate, taking less money to stay in Seattle simply didn't make sense.