Golden Tate spoke to the media for about 17 minutes today, which I think is the longest introductory press conference we’ve had in the past few years.

Two minutes of that was an opening statement, where Tate thanked the Detroit Lions and expressed his gratitude for now being a part of the Eagles’ organization.

Some notes from his first Philadelphia availability:

Initial reaction?

“My mouth kind of dropped a bit. I read all of the articles and talked to my agent several times. I think I found out before my agent did. It was a shock, information overload… it kind of threw me off.”

Your fit in this offense?

“You know, it’s still early, it’s been less than 24 hours at this point and just meeting with the coaches, I had a chance to meet with Mike Groh and Gunter Brewer and coach Pederson. My job is going to be to learn this material and system as fast as possible, learn my teammates, try to find a way to bond with these guys pretty quickly. I don’t get the offseason and the OTAs and all of that. I missed that. I’m gonna be working hard just to try to fit in, but I wanna do whatever is gonna help this team win. I’m not coming here demanding anything. I just want to learn it, and when the ball is in my hands I wanna make a play.”

On Carson Wentz:

“He wants to be great. From the outside, you see a guy who can make every throw, create some things with his legs. I’m excited to be around him and the other guys.”

On a feel for the offense:

“It’s definitely different from what I was doing in Detroit. But there is some crossover from when I had Joe Lombardi as an offensive coordinator at the beginning of my career in Seattle. So there are some things that came back to me relatively quickly. I don’t know if I need to learn the entire playbook between now and Sunday, I think there’s probably some things, some details to focus on, but thankfully we’re on a bye week and that helps out tremendously. I have a few days to figure out how to get my family here and get settled in.”

On signing a contract beyond this year:

“I’d love to be here for as long as you all expect me. I don’t know if there have been talks yet but I’m just trying to get settled in and worry about what I can control, which is the next eight games. I plan on going to the playoffs and playing a few more… Hopefully it all works out. I wanna be here, and just know that, from day one, I’m all in.”

On why Detroit traded him:

“It’s a business, that’s what I got from it. That’s the only explanation I give you. I can say I gave it my all in Detroit, on the field, off the field, in the community. (Tate said he had a lot of contact with people after the trade, from coaches to community members and media)”

On being excellent at gaining yards after the catch:

“God has blessed me some pretty strong legs. I think it dates back to high school. I was a running back in high school and college is when I made the transition to wide receiver… I feel like when I get the ball in my hands, I can break it and take it. That’s just kind of my mentality and that’s one of the things I’m gonna bring to this offense.”

On having success both outside and inside in this league:

“When I started off in the league I was primarily a Z receiver, an outside receiver. When I moved to Detroit later in my career I became more of a slot guy. I feel like I can run every route in the route tree well enough to be out there and have confidence in the quarterback and the coach. If that’s what they want me to do I can do that, if they want me to chip a defensive end every play, I can do that. I just wanna fit in to this organization and just help. I think I can do a lot of things and hopefully the coaches feel the same and Carson and I can get that confidence and camaraderie.”