Chargers legend Antonio Gates will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. While his greatness was rooted in many attributes — explosiveness, power, spatial awareness, toughness, route running, hands — there is one trait that vaulted him from college basketball star to the very top of an entirely different sport.
“He knew when it was time to deliver,” said Rob Chudzinski, who was Gates’ tight ends coach for four seasons with the Chargers, “and he did.”
The results of football games often hinge on what happens in key situations. Gates was one of the best of a generation at showing up in these moments — not just tight ends, but all pass catchers. Third and fourth downs. Red zone.
“If you were one-on-one,” said Jason Michael, who coached Chargers tight ends from 2011 to ’13, “you didn’t have a chance.”
Gates scored more touchdowns than any tight end in league history with 116. Of those 116, 92 came in the red zone, or inside the 20-yard line, according to TruMedia. No player since 2000 has scored more red zone touchdowns than Gates. The player in second is Hall of Fame receiver Larry Fitzgerald with 83. Two tight ends, Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham, are tied for third with 74.
Gates had 257 conversion receptions on third and fourth downs over his 16-year career, according to TruMedia. Only two players, Fitzgerald and receiver Anquan Boldin, had more third- and fourth-down conversion receptions since 2000. Gates had 41 touchdown receptions on third or fourth downs. That is second among all players since 2000, trailing only Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss.
When you pair those two situations elements together — third and fourth downs in the red zone — no one was better than Gates among his peers. Gates had 37 red zone touchdowns on third and fourth downs in his career, according to TruMedia. The players in second since 2000, Gonzalez and tight end Greg Olsen, had 26.
“Whether it’s crunch time, whether it was third down, whether it was to turn the momentum of the game or whether it was in the red zone to finish a drive off, he had that mentality that he wanted the ball,” Chudzinski said.
Philip Rivers was Gates’ quarterback for 13 of his 16 seasons, and their connection was instrumental to this situational success.
rivers to gates, forever pic.twitter.com/hVBuhXU3pL
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) July 29, 2025
As Michael recalls, “There was hand signals, there was communication of what it is, but those guys really didn’t even have to communicate.”
One play sticks out in Michael’s mind specifically from his time with Gates and Rivers. Of course, it was in the red zone. It came against the Buffalo Bills at home in Week 14 of the 2011 season.
Michael, now the tight ends coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, said Gates ran corner routes in the red zone better than any player he has “even been around.” Michael still shows film cut-ups of Gates running this route to his Eagles tight ends.
Gates was so effective on this specific route throughout his career that he was forced to develop change-up routes off it. One of those change-ups was a nod route — faking to the corner with a head nod before cutting inside to the post.
On this play in the first quarter against the Bills, the design called for Gates to run a corner. But Gates and Rivers altered the route before the play without any communication.
“They looked at each other, made eye contact, and they were on the same page,” Michael said.
Gates caught a touchdown from Rivers in the back of the end zone to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead.
“The sameness of those routes, it was hard for anybody to cover,” Michael said. “And that’s obviously why he has more touchdowns than any tight end in the league.”
Gates was dominant, and, as a result, he started seeing coverages designed specifically to stop him. Defensive minds like Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan would attempt to take Gates out of the game by double-teaming him at the line of scrimmage. It was reminiscent of how gunners will double-team opposing players on the outside of punt formations, referred to as double-vicing.
“He changed the game from that standpoint,” Michael said.
116 career touchdowns, the most ever by a tight end.
We take you back to his very first one. (Nov. 9, 2003)
Congrats on a legendary career, Antonio Gates! 👏👏👏 @Chargers #BoltUp pic.twitter.com/qWK4ex5SVj
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) January 14, 2020
Michael remembers one offseason when he asked the Chargers’ equipment staff to create a vest that Gates could wear during practices. The vest was fitted with all sorts of dangling pieces that defenders could grab onto. The other Chargers tight ends would stand in front of Gates during practice and latch onto the different pieces of the vest to simulate the coverages Gates was seeing at the line of scrimmage.
Gates was the only Chargers tight end who used the vest, according to Michael. He was the only Chargers player getting that type of coverage.
Said Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who coached against Gates while with the San Francisco 49ers in 2014: “When you start having to commit underneath coverage and a safety over the top, two guys to cover one, when one guy becomes un-coverable by one defender, and you have a mismatch if they don’t, that changes the game.”
Gates signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2003 after two standout basketball seasons at Kent State. Gates, a power forward, led Kent State to the Elite Eight in 2002. He averaged over 20 points in 2003. His basketball background translated to football in many areas, but specifically his ability to separate in short areas.
“He understood how to create space,” Michael said.
Gates dealt with plantar fasciitis and other foot troubles in the second half of his career. He still played until 2018. Without the foot injuries, Chudzinski said, Gates’ “production would have been even more.”
Gates was battling plantar fasciitis throughout Michael’s tenure with the Chargers. Michael remembers tough “one-on-one conversations.”
“Whether it was a day before, week of, night before the game, he’s like, ‘Golly, this hurts,’” Michael said. “Just talking through those things with him and him finding a way to still go out there. One night he’s talking this, and then the next night he goes out and catches for 100 yards and two or three touchdowns.”
“All players have good days and bad days, and some days they don’t feel as good,” Michael added. “But I promise you, when the ball was snapped, whether it was practice or a game, Antonio Gates … he played full speed all the time.”
And in those crucial moments, Gates was at his best.
(Photo: Donald Miralle / Getty Images)