Tennessee Titans WR Carnell Tate Earns NFL Honor

The investment in Carnell Tate by the Tennessee Titans is paying off. 

It took Tate a little while to get going, but once he did, he didn't look back. He had 38 receiving yards and 27 receiving yards in the first two weeks of the season. 

Then, he had 58 receiving yards against the New York Giants. You could tell that he was on the brink of having a breakout game. 

He finally had one in Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens. He led the Titans with 145 receiving yards on nine receptions. He was the focus of the Houston Texans' defense the following week and was limited to six yards. 

He proved it was a fluke by leading the Titans with 70 receiving yards in Week 6. He then led the team again in Week 7 with 69 receiving yards. 

The month of October is when Tate really started to hit his stride. He played so well that the NFL recognized him as the Offensive Rookie of the Month. 

Tate had 290 receiving yards and one touchdown in October. 

Even though Tate missed the last game with a shoulder injury, he still leads all rookie receivers in multiple stats. He leads all rookie receivers in receiving yards (413) and receptions. 

We'll see if Tate can hold onto the lead in these stats, as the Titans have their bye week this weekend. Denzel Boston is close behind Tate in rookie receiving yards (409). 

So far, Tate is on pace to have a very solid rookie year. ESPN's Mike Clay predicted that he would have a 1,000-yard season in the offseason. Tate is nearly halfway to that goal. 

Clay predicted Tate would finish with 1,065 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Tate needs 652 more receiving yards and four touchdowns to reach those numbers. The touchdowns have been hard to come by, but Tate is definitely on pace to get over the 1,000-yard mark. 

The expectation is that Tate's shoulder injury was minor and would only keep him out for one week. If that's true, then he'll be back in action after the bye week. 

The Titans play their first divisional game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10. We'll get to see Tate and the rest of his Titans teammates debut in their Nike Rivalry uniforms. 

It'll be hard to follow up on his performance in October, but Tate is off to a great start already in his NFL career.