One of the criteria for judging a player’s merit to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame has always been this question: Did they change the game?
No player in the last 20 years has done more to change the game than former Chargers tight end Antonio Gates. And yet, he was inexplicably snubbed by Pro Football Hall of Fame voters on Thursday night.
“You never want to have the thought process you can’t get in,” Gates said. “The mental part of it is that in order for you to be the best, you got to think you the best. Since forever … I feel like mentally I belong in there, but at the end of the day you got to let it play out and you can control what you can control and we’ll see how it goes.”
Antonio Gates #85 of the San Diego Chargers catches the ball for a first down against the New York Giants during their game on December 8, 2013, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
It’s one of the worst snubs in NFL history. Gates didn’t just put up amazing numbers on his way to becoming one of the greatest tight ends ever to play the game. He also completely changed his position. Initially intent on being an NBA player, Gates, who played college basketball for Kent State, signed with the then-San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2003.
It’s important to note that before Gates entered the NFL, tight ends were, for the most part, athletic but bulky players not known for getting separated from elite defenders and making plays downfield. An exception to this would be Dallas’ Jay Novacek, who was an Olympic athlete. And Denver and Baltimore’s Shannon Sharpe.
However, Novacek and Sharpe were exceptions, not the rule.
Gates brought a level of athleticism and play-making ability that had rarely been seen before. Teams began actively searching for former basketball players to convert to tight ends so they could recreate the magic that Gates and then-Chargers QB Philip Rivers were creating on the field, to the point that nowadays you almost can’t even play tight end at the NFL level unless you have an uber-athletic, Gates-like body type.
Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi spoke about Gates’ dominance and impact on X Thursday night.
Antonio Gates has more TD catches than Sharpe Gronkowski and Gonzalez. He changed the game for the sub Y. I don’t understand.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) February 9, 2024
Why I wrote Football Done Right, the committee is lost. If Gronk is a first time Hall of Famer which he is, then how is Gates not? 2,555 more receiving yards, 24 more touchdowns, 3 all pro years for Gates to 4 for Gronk. Please explain what happens in that room?
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) February 9, 2024
This is exactly right.
“[Gates] tallied 955 catches for 11,841 yards and 116 touchdowns in his legendary career, spanning 2003-18 with the Chargers — both in San Diego and Los Angeles,” the New York Post reports.
“Gates, 43, tallied double-digit touchdowns four times and cleared 1,000 yards twice.”
What’s the difference between Gates and Gronk? Other than the fact Gates has better numbers despite playing the lion’s share of his career at a time where the rules were more favorable for the defenses? What? Gronk has rings, and Gates doesn’t? Are we doing this now? Are Hall of Fame voters now know better than drunk fans at a bar member-measuring between their favorite players by how many rings they won? As if that were some measure of their individual greatness and impact on the game?
Antonio Gates #85 of the San Diego Chargers catches a touchdown pass in front of Sean Lee #50 of the Dallas Cowboys en route to the Chargers 30-21 victory on September 29, 2013, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
Antonio Gates’ snubbery is the single best example of the need for reform in the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting process. There are others, but this is a big one. If the people who vote for the hall can’t see the objective greatness of Gates’ career and how he is a first-ballot Hall of Famer both by his individual stats and his impact on the game, they have disqualified themselves from being voters.
It’s time to clean house.
