San Diego Chargers: The future of Antonio Gates
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Gates can still play some. For almost any other TE, 49 catches for 538 yards and 7 TD is a career year. Only recently is that not an elite number for a TE.
I think what some people forget, and you can see very clearly from the games, Gates was double covered a lot, along with Floyd last year. Teams knew we were trying to get the ball to him, so they covered him as much as possible. It was a good way to get turnovers was to take his security blankets (Gates and Floyd) away from Rivers. It's not just the injuries, it's not just getting older, it is the fact that he got covered tight.
As far as his future goes, after the foot injuries and such, he will never be the elite player he was for an entire season. That is just not in the cards anymore. But he can still play and be a productive TE. To me, it is more about the cap space and a replacement. We don't have a replacement and in an offense where we are trying to get the QB back on track, you don't cut the TE. So, Gates is safe now. So how long can we keep him?
But his salary has to get cut. He is no longer an elite player, and contracts pay you for potential, not past production. I don't like it that way, I would rather players earn their pay, but it is not how it works. I think we need to try and develop the young guys as much as possible, hopefully using a lot of 2 TE sets, and maybe the depth at WR and the added quickness with Whitehead will help get Gates back in the better TE producers in football. If not, we have the struggle with the idea of cutting our only productive TE. And the difference between many of the best and worst offenses in football is by about as much as their TE produce. Not as clear cut as that anymore, but it used to be that way (and FB/3rd WR production).
I think the 4 seasons prediction might be a wildly optimistic view. I hope it is true, but given how much time he misses, and his salary, I don't see how it happens. I would love to get 2 seasons out of him.
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