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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10630211/golden-tate-says-seattle-seahawks-contract-offer-was-laughable
Former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate, who signed a five-year, $31 million deal with Detroit last week, said the offer from Seattle was "laughable" and that he is disappointed in how some Seahawks fans have turned on him for leaving.
"I'm just appalled at the attitude I've received on Twitter from people I thought were Golden Tate fans," Tate said Tuesday on 710 ESPN Seattle. "People are starting to show their true colors. I think the world of the 12s Seahawks fans, but there is a large group who very quickly turned on me. It kind of bothered me because I felt like I gave everything I possibly could to the city of Seattle.
"I was out in the community and I played my tail off every game. And I helped bring the first ever Super Bowl championship to Seattle. I don't care who you are. If you have an opportunity to earn way more money in another city, you'll leave in a second. Every single person in the world would have done what I did."
Tate feels the fans expected too much after he said he was willing the give the Seahawks a hometown discount.
"I didn't mean a 40 percent discount," Tate said. "I'm going to earn in one year at Detroit what Seattle was going to pay me for two years. Seattle offered numbers that were laughable. I thought, 'I've given you everything and this is what you give me?'
"Considering I was there for four years, and started two of those years. I missed one game in those two years. I did everything right and wasn't a trouble maker. And what they offered, I was like, 'Is this serious?' The numbers the Seahawks shot at me were not first-priority, like they said they wanted to do for me to stay in Seattle."
Tate said he also is looking forward to playing for a team that emphasizes the passing game more than the Seahawks do.
"I'm going from a run-heavy offense to a pass-happy offense," he said. "It's a chance to be the player I always imagined being."
Despite his disappointment over the offer he received for the Seahawks, Tate said he left on good terms with Seattle coach Pete Carroll and everyone in the organization.
"Pete called me that night when he signed with Detroit and wished me good luck," Tate said. "He said, 'If you need anything ever, call me.'"
But Tate also feels the Seahawks didn't appreciate him enough to make competitive offer.
"It's a business and I get it," Tate said. "But I felt I was undervalued a little bit considering all I had done. I'm going to miss the city of Seattle, but I really had no choice. I did my very best to stay in Seattle. I leave with my head high." ******************************************
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