Former San Diego Charger, Antonio Gates, is named a finalist for the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with 14 other ex-players.
On Wednesday, the league confirmed that Antonio Gates has been named a finalist for the most prestigious and highest honor in the football world, along with other 14 former players.
The legendary tight-end is on the verge of entering the Hall of Fame in just his first year of eligibility, which is the case for a few percentage of ex-players who wrap up great careers at the professional level.
Antonio’s career evolved in a very unique and unlikely manner. Coming out of college, the former Kent State basketball player was picked up as an undrafted free agent by the San Diego Chargers in 2003. The signing was a huge risk at first for the Chargers, given that Antonio did not play any college football at Kent State.
However, it didn’t take long for Gates to turn into one of the premier players in the National Football League by becoming a nightmare for defenses on any given Sunday throughout his career. Fast forward to the end of the 2018 season, he wrapped up his professional trajectory with the most NFL touchdowns ever by a tight-end, in addition to nearly 12,000 receiving yards and 955 total receptions as an offensive weapon.
Earlier this month, Antonio Gates was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame at So-Fi Stadium. The iconic tight-end spoke in front of thousands of fans in attendance at the Chargers-Broncos game on December 10th, and the soon-to-be Hall of Fame tight-end could not finish his speech without mentioning the city that witnessed him go from a former college basketball player to one of the greatest tight-ends to ever play the sport of football.
“To the city of San Diego,” Gates said while the crowd erupted. “You supported me. You embraced a 22-year-old kid from Detroit. And you will always be my second home.”
The full list of the finalists are the following:
– Antonio Gates
– Julius Peppers
– Devin Hester
– Torry Holt
– Reggie Wayne
– Andre Johnson
– Jared Allen
– Patrick Willis
– Fred Taylor
– Dwight Freeney
– Darren Woodson
– Rodney Harrison
– Jahri Evans
– Eric Allen
– Willie Anderson
From the prestigious list above, only five will be officially inducted into the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame. And although Antonio is competing against other worthy Hall of Famers, his overall statistics should keep Chargers fans calm about his candidacy. The numbers suggest that there’s almost no argument whatsoever for him not to be named a member of the Hall of Fame.