San Diego Chargers TE Antonio Gates wants to play at least one more season in the NFL and he definitely wants to finish his career in a Chargers uniform. He shared some of his thoughts on retirement with the UT this morning saying that he would like to finish his current contract, but left the future beyond that deal up in the air. His current deal is up after the 2015 season.
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Here was his statement from the UT:
“I think if you start thinking about it, you’ve got a couple years left,” said Gates, a 12th-year veteran. “I think that’s how it goes. Once you start thinking about it, you’ve got about two years left. But I’m always thinking about it. I’ve always been a person who played every game like it was my last anyway, but that is actually true now because you just never know.
“We’ll see how it goes in the future. Who knows? (The Chargers) know what it means for me to be here. They know how I feel about being here. We’ll see how it goes. I do want to finish my deal out. I do want to finish it here. That’s the only thing I do know: I do want to finish my career here in San Diego. I never envisioned being somewhere else, playing for another team.”
Now it is up to Tom Telesco to ensure that Antonio sticks around for at least the next season. Antonio has a cap number over $9.7 million next season and he is still playing at a high level. He would be the 3rd highest paid player on the roster on the team behind Philip Rivers and Eric Weddle. Ladarius Green was supposed to come into this season and start stealing snaps from him, but he has not been able to outplay Antonio this year.
Antonio has shown that he still is a playmaker on offense with Philip Rivers and the rest of this group. He has been great this season. He should have at least another giid season left in him. I don’t know how much he would have left in the tank beyond that. He has been great for this team and should be allowed to finish his career here. He is one of the best to put on the uniform.