Tom Condon, the agent for free agent TE Antonio Gates, mentioned during an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio (per Alex Marvez) that he’s hopeful his client can reach a deal with the Chargers and return to the team.
According to Condon, the two sides are “actively negotiating” a deal for Gates to return.
Josina Anderson recently spoke to a team source who said it would be their preference to re-sign Gates and for sides to “get it done before camp” starts.
The Chargers are set to open training camp on Friday, which means the two parties have a few days to get a deal done beforehand.
Chargers GM Tom Telesco confirmed during an appearance on the “Petros and Money show” last Thursday that re-signing Gates as a replacement to Hunter Henry remains a possibility.
“There’s no update right now,” Telesco said, via ESPN.com. “We’ll see where things go next week. We’ve got a couple, different possibilities. We had talked about one obviously with Antonio Gates, and we’ll see where that goes. We’ve got some time here next week, so we’ll see what happens.
“Losing Hunter was a blow at the time, it is now but you have to overcome it. That’s what you have to do.”
Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News previously reported the team has reached out to Gates about re-signing with the team, but it “remains unclear” whether they will sign him.
Gates, 37, signed on with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of Kent State back in 2003 and has spent his entire 15-year NFL career with the team. He finished out the final year of his two-year, $11 million contract that included $6 million guaranteed and a base salary of $4.5 million for the 2017 season.
Gates is testing the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
In 2017 Gates appeared in all 16 games and caught 30 passes for 316 yards receiving and three touchdowns for the Chargers. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 17 tight end out of 71 qualifying players.
We have him featured in our Top 50 Available 2018 NFL Free Agents list.
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