The running back revolving door continues to swing for the Cleveland Browns and running back Ben Tate is the latest casualty.
Ben Tate’s very short time in Cleveland has come to an end. The fifth year NFL running back out of Auburn has worn out his welcome with the Cleveland Browns. He had four touchdowns in eight games with the club.
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This means the Browns are going to go younger at the running back position now. They will now go with rookie Isaiah Crowell out of Alabama State and rookie Terrance West out of Towson. Crowell has 78 carries for 358 yards and five touchdowns. He had 14 carries for 61 yards on Sunday in their 23-7 loss to the Houston Texans. West has 112 carries for 408 yards and three touchdowns.
The writing was on the wall for Tate after this past weekend though. He only got two carries and it wasn’t pretty. His runs went for -3 and -6 yards. He’s carried the ball 106 times for 333 yards. That isn’t going to get the job done and when you are a running back in the NFL, more times than not, the younger guy will get the job, especially if he is outplaying you.
The Browns have been looking for a number one back ever since trading away first-round draft pick Trent Richardson last season to the Indianapolis Colts. Now, they look to Crowell and West.
As for Tate, he came to the Browns after spending his first three seasons in Houston, and now is looking for work again. Hi numbers weren’t awful over the season in comparison to Crowell and West but after seeing where he was after this past Sunday, the Browns felt they’d seen enough. Per clevelandbrowns.com, general manager Sam Farmer reiterated that sentiment.
"With all the transactions we make while constructing our roster, it will always be our intent to do what is best for our football team"
Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine also had some insight saying sometimes it had everything to do with running style.
"You look at the game. These are the runs that we have for this game plan. Who executes these particular runs the best? It’s more than just, ‘Hey, he looked better in practice than he did.’ Sometimes it’s a style matchup decision"
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