Injuries
Auden Tate basically played his entire junior year with an injured shoulder. In fact, that injury is what Tate believes kept him from being drafted earlier.
I promise every team that picked past me because my “Shoulder Issue” gotta feel me in the future‼️ Believe That☝🏾💯
— Auden Tate (@lil_t8te) April 28, 2018
Shoulder injuries can be tricky and affect all types of small things wide receivers do when playing. A bum shoulder doesn’t allow the receiver to pump his arms as quick as usual to accelerate faster.
Obviously it could harm the range of motion when high pointing jump balls(something Tate excels at). It also could be a factor in the run blocking game as big receivers like Tate play integral parts in that area.
Who’s to say Tate would come back his senior year and be healthy the whole time? He had 10 touchdowns on 40 receptions while playing injured with a true freshman quarterback. The probability of him being much more productive than that is fairly low.