Ben Tate ‘thanks’ Houston Texans staff, teammates and fans

Dec 1, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans running back Ben Tate (44) runs with the ball for a fourth quarter touchdown against the New England Patriots at Reliant Stadium. The Patriots beat the Texans 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It looks as though Houston Texans running back Ben Tate has played his final game for the organization.

Tate, in a series of Tweets and in one Facebook post said the following on Monday:

"“Cleaned out my locker going to miss the guys on this team….we have a lot of good ppl on this team and everyone was cool from the trainers to the equipment guys….always made it a good time while still getting work done. odds are I won’t be back but being drafted here I learned a lot that I will carry on for the rest of my career. thank you Htown for all the support…”"

If there is one player all fans, of any team, must respect in the NFL it is Tate. The man played running back in the NFL with four broken ribs for more than a few games this season. That is just pure toughness.

It took a fifth broken rib to get Tate off the field with two games left in the season.

Tate will do well if he does, in fact, not return to the Texans and plays elsewhere, which seems really likely. I personally would like to see him return, but I understand … he’s earned a big contract and he’ll get that elsewhere, not with the Texans.

This season, Tate totaled 771 yards and four touchdowns, while sharing the backfield with Arian Foster for part of the season. He had 181 rushes in ’13.

For his four-year career with the Texans, who drafted him in the second round of the ’10 NFL Draft (58th overall), he ran the ball 421 times for 1,992 yards and 10 touchdowns.