Tate has strong, reliable hands and a lengthy stride that can create some easy separation and stretch the defense vertically. He shows the ability to vary his releases and set up defenders that are attempting to mirror him. Against off coverage, he uses his long strides to eat up yardage and force a defender onto their heels before breaking away from them across the middle or throttling down to work back on a curl. The one area Tate struggles with on his releases is working through a physical press at the line of scrimmage. He doesn’t have the strength to fight through contact consistently.

Tate is a savvy route runner that can stem his routes away from defenders or throw body fakes to get a defender to hesitate as he accelerates past them. He is smooth through his breaks and doesn’t show a need to throttle down at the top of his routes to make cuts. He efficiently gets in and out of breaks and uses his stride to continue to run away from defenders into open space. He has a good feel for zones in coverage and can place himself properly to be an easy target for his QB. Often on curls, he works back towards the LOS to give a bit more space for his QB to throw into without having the risk of a DB crashing on the catch point. Tate utilizes his long strides to get deep quickly and will use body fakes to get defenders to hesitate to get them on his back hip. This allows his QB to push the ball deep and allow him to run underneath it for big gains. His tracking ability is very good and has the body control to not throttle down or make major adjustments to get underneath the ball. If a defender is nearby, he shows late hands to limit potential PBUs.

There are times throughout games where he may give up on a route too early or not give the same effort if a play is not designed to go his way. On most targets, he shows good, strong hands to secure the pass before making any attempts upfield, and drops are not common in his game. He lacks some of the functional strength to make catches through contact or get up to make difficult contested catches. With the ball, Tate does not have a good RAC ability to force missed tackles or the top-end speed to run away from opponents. Most of his production comes from air yards which works well with his vertical skills, but takes him out of the screen game as a receiver.

Tate does not possess the top-end speed or elusiveness to be a weapon in the run game. However, he has shown the aggression and sustain to be involved as a blocker in the run game. If he can add a bit of strength to his frame and refine some of his technique, he can develop into a reliable blocker that can keep him on the field longer.

Tate is a sure-handed and savvy receiver whose length and athleticism can stretch the defense vertically and create separation through the middle of the field. His skill set makes him a starter in a lot of different offensive schemes, and he can be used across the formation to create advantageous matchups. On 3rd downs, he would be best used out of a bunch, or stack, set to avoid a heavy press and allow him to run away through the middle of the field or work towards the boundary on a deep shot. He does not possess the ball-carrying skills to be a returner on special teams, but his blocking temperament could be used in some punt and kickoff units.