A foot injury slowed Antonio Gates the past two seasons.
Perhaps that made him an easier target.
The Chargers tight end says he’s received his share of disrespect over the past year. Some of it makes him laugh. Other parts push him forward.
In 2011, the NFL Network came out with its annual player-voted list of top 100 players in the league. Gates ranked No. 22, highest among tight ends.
A year later, five tight ends made the annual cut. Gates, an eight-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, wasn’t one of them.
“The top 100 was a joke,” Gates, 32, said. “It was a joke. I think it’s a joke. It’s hard for me to really take it into consideration. To me, you have to prove why somebody goes from the top 25 to out of the list that went to the Pro Bowl. There’s just not a logical reason. Only four tight ends go to the Pro Bowl. Even if (Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots) was going to go, I still would have made it.
“It just didn’t make sense. I just didn’t understand it. They had five or six in there, and I wasn’t even in there. It doesn’t even bother me.”
What got Gates was a Yahoo! article last year.
There was quote from an unnamed Chargers team source, who said Gates “looks old and fat. He’s not beating people.”
“You’re on the quest to become a champion,” Gates said. “One day, you can look back and say, ‘Remember all those doubters. Now look at everyone cheering.’ It’s one of those things I remember vividly when that article came out, saying I was old and can’t run. I remember that.
“It didn’t bother me. It was just like OK, I’m going to remember that. And I’m going to use that when I’m running, when I want to say, ‘Oh, I can’t go today.’ I can use that and say, ‘Come on. Remember what they said you couldn’t do?’ ... Everything, you take it as motivation or you use it to pull you down. I just use it as tools and fuel to keep me going.”
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