Mike Pettine: Ben Tate-Terrance West running back battle ‘might … be the best competition’ of Browns training camp

May 21, 2014; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Ben Tate (44) during organized team activities at Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
May 21, 2014; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Ben Tate (44) during organized team activities at Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Cleveland Browns went out and signed Houston Texans running back Ben Tate in the offseason. While playing behind Arian Foster in the Texans organization, Tate was believed to be a starter on just about any other team in the league, rushing for 942 yards as a rookie and 771 yards last season.

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He isn’t being handed the starting spot in Cleveland though, and will have to compete for it. While talking about competitions in camp, head coach Mike Pettine said the competition between Tate and Terrance West at running back might be the most entertaining of training camp.

“It’s just like a lot of other positions where you have guys competing whether it’s Justin Gilbert and Buster Skrine competing for that (starting cornerback) spot,” said Pettine, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “We weren’t going to hand Justin that spot. You’ve got (Chris) Kirksey and Craig Robertson competing for the inside ‘backer spot, Garrett Gilkey and John Greco at guard, and Jim Dray and Gary Barnidge for that second tight end spot. And the best competition might be Ben Tate and our guy from Terrance West from Towson, who I really like.”

He added, “The beauty of the (quarterback) competition is that we have two guys that have the ability to start. Post-draft you feel a lot better about it than what we had in January when Hoyer was coming off the surgery and we had some uncertainty at the position.”