Future Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates has announced his retirement from the NFL. This comes after spending the 2019 season unsigned, after spending 16 years with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers prior. He will be retiring as a Charger.
— Antonio Gates (@AntonioGates85) January 14, 2020
Antonio Gates Retires
This retirement should come as little surprise (and some even probably thought it already happened) given that Gates was past his prime and spent the 2019 season without a team. However, he’s had a superb career to look back on. Along with Tony Gonzalez, he helped usher in a new era for tight ends. He was one of the first to start the stereotype of “tight end that used to be a basketball player.”
Gates played only basketball while in college (graduating at Kent State); before he came to the NFL, he hadn’t played football since college. As a result, he was an undrafted free agent (and certainly one of the better undrafted players ever). The Chargers signed him up in 2003. It only took one more season before he broke out and turned into a superstar. Thus began a career which saw him have 11,841 yards and 116 touchdowns – the latter being the most for a tight end in NFL history.
His absolute best years came from 2004-2010 when he was the primary receiving target on the Chargers for both Drew Brees and Philip Rivers during their respective tenures. He made the Pro Bowl during all of these years as well as 2011 (for a total of eight Pro Bowls), and he continued to remain great through 2014 before age and injuries finally started to catch up with him. Still, even through his last years, he proved just about impossible to guard with a linebacker. He and Rivers had excellent chemistry in general which was difficult to defend against.
Gates retires as one of the best players in Chargers franchise history and was one of the two best tight ends in NFL history as well alongside Tony Gonzalez. He will likely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when it’s all said and done. Even though his career met its unofficial end when he went unsigned this past season, he can now officially start waiting for enshrinement.
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