Former Detroit Lions WR Golden Tate on being traded: ‘It was a shock’

We knew based on Golden Tate’s Twitter account that he was in tune with the trade rumors surrounding him prior to Tuesday’s deadline, but even with that primer, the Detroit Lions’ decision to trade him came as a big surprise to the wide receiver.

“I had read all the articles, I talked to my agent several times,” Tate said during his introductory press conference with the Eagles on Wednesday. “I think I found out before my agent did. It was a shock. It was kind of information overload, there was only two minutes of talking, but it kind of threw me off.”

Tate admitted he thought about what it may be like to play for a different franchise, whether it be the Eagles or other rumored teams like the Patriots or Browns. But he never took those fantasies beyond a brief thought.

“My brain didn’t wrap around it until it actually happened.”

While Tate was shocked by the move, he remained incredibly classy toward the Detroit Lions. On the day of the trade, he offered this thoughtful response on social media.

On Wednesday, he made sure to kick off his press conference by expressing that same gratitude to the Lions.

“I’d like to start off by showing a tremendous amount of gratitude and be thankful to the Detroit Lions for giving me the opportunity to spend the last four-and-a-half years in a great organization,” Tate said. “I’ll be forever grateful for the teammates, the coaches, the community and what they helped me achieve as a player, as a person, as a Christian.”

Tate didn’t provide any insight as to why he was traded away from the Lions, other than saying, “It’s a business.” However, he was grateful that he received phone calls from various people inside the organization, including general manager Bob Quinn, team president Rod Wood, Matthew Stafford and some of the team physicians.

You can watch Golden Tate’s entire Eagles introductory press conference here... if you can stomach it.