The Indianapolis Colts were able to convince Philip Rivers to sign in free agency due to his familiarity with Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni. Just a year before Rivers, Antonio Gates almost signed with Indianapolis prior to the 2019 season for the same reasons.
“I was in the same boat Philip is in now,” Gates said. “You understand the people you’re going to work with. They don’t have to worry about me as a human being. They know me. And they know, ‘OK, this is his ritual and how he gets prepared and gets ready.’ Sometimes as a veteran, you need that. That helps you. . . . It was just so familiar. Even the players had, like, similarities if that makes sense. It’s just crazy how everything works. It did look familiar and when they called plays. It just fit what we had done over the course of a decade in California.”
Instead of signing with the Colts, Gates chose to retire from the NFL after 16 seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. Of course, during his time with the Chargers, he spent 13 years with Rivers as his quarterback.
Before deciding to retire, Gates considered joining the Colts in October. However, Indianapolis began to falter later in the season. That led to Gates no longer having an interest in returning to the NFL.
Gates, who turns 39 years old later this year, doesn't seem to have any interest in un-retiring in 2020. With that being said, there was almost a chance that Rivers and Gates reunited with each other in Indianapolis for next season.
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