Antonio Gates Biography, Age, Height, Weight, Family, Wiki & More

Antonio Gates is an American football player, representing Los Angeles Chargers as a tight end in the National Football League.

 

He attended Detroit Central High School and pursued college at Kent University, after brief duration at Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University. He played basketball there and assisted his team ‘Golden Flashes’ to win consecutive Mid-American Conference championship and reach the Elite Eight stage in the NCAA Tournament. When he felt it would not be possible for him to make it to NBA, he started preparing for NFL. Recognising his potential, Antonio was signed into San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in the year 2003.

 

Antonio had a great rookie year at the Chargers, with two scores and 24 passes for 389 yards.  In the following season, he had 81 receptions for 964 yards and also had tied a record for highest touchdown receptions by a tight end in a season. He was selected for the 2005 Pro Bowl. In the 2005 season, he had 10 touchdowns and caught 89 passes for 1,100 yards, where he had extended his contract with the Chargers for six years with a deal worth about $24 million. He went on to have stellar seasons in 2006, 2007 and 2008 before undergoing a surgery for his dislocated toe. He returned for the 2009 season, where he had eight touchdowns and caught 79 passes for 1,157 yards. In 2012, he became the only fifth tight end in the history of NFL to have 600 catches and in 2014, he became the fourth tight end to have over 10,000 yards in career receiving yards in the history of NFL. He is leading the tight ends for touchdown receptions in the NFL history. He has been in the Pro Bowl eight times and three times in the First-team All-Pro.