Earlier this offseason, the Los Angeles Chargers made the decision to part ways with former Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates after 15 seasons to effective hand over the reins for the starting job over to Hunter Henry.
However, this game plan was quickly sidetracked after Henry suffered a torn ACL in the first few days of the offseason workouts and opened the door to the Chargers considering other players to come in to be the starter. This has seemingly kept the possibility that Gates could make his return, which is something that general manager Tom Telesco has acknowledged could be a possibility, according to Eric D. Williams of ESPN.
“There's no update right now,” Telesco said. “We'll see where things go next week. We've got a couple, different possibilities. We had talked about one obviously with Antonio Gates, and we'll see where that goes. We've got some time here next week, so we'll see what happens.
“Losing Hunter was a blow at the time, it is now but you have to overcome it. That's what you have to do.”
Since being let go by the Chargers, Gates has remained afloat in the open market without any significant interest from around the league with several other proven tight ends finding new homes in the league prior to him. He has also yet to indicate that he's considering retirement at this point in time despite a continuous decline in his production and lack of any serious discussion of playing elsewhere next season.
Despite his production dropping, Gates has remained a big threat in the red zone as he racked up 30 catches on 52 targets for 316 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions. He has shown to still be a durable player despite his play tailing off as he has played in all 16 games for the seventh time in his career in the 2017 season.
With the Chargers in the need to secure their tight end position, Gates still remains a strong possibility to make his return for at least another season.
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