Being one the most dominant players to ever play your position apparently doesn’t make you a surefire Hall of Famer anymore.
Pro Football Hall of Fame voters somehow snubbed iconic tight end Antonio Gates in his first appearance on the ballot despite scoring more touchdowns than any other player at the position in NFL history.
Gates told TMZ in November he expected to make the cut, but he failed to make a list that includes Julius Peppers, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Patrick Willis and Dwight Freeney as modern-day inductees.
“You never want to have the thought process you can’t get in,” Gates said. “The mental part of it is that in order for you to be the best, you got to think you the best. Since forever … I feel like mentally I belong in there, but at the end of the day you got to let it play out and you can control what you can control and we’ll see how it goes.”
Gates’ omission left NFL fans stunned considering he is universally considered one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the sport.
He tallied 955 catches for 11,841 yards and 116 touchdowns in his legendary career, spanning 2003-18 with the Chargers — both in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Gates, 43, tallied double-digit touchdowns four times and cleared 1,000 yards twice.
While he may not have been the all-around player that Rob Gronkowski was, his offensive dominance at the position is on par with Travis Kelce.
Gates even scored more touchdowns than Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez.
His exclusion left many in the NFL community stunned.
Former teammate Shawne Merriman tweeted: “Antonio Gates not being a first ballot is an absolute embarrassment, they should be ashamed.”
Former NFL offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger posted a video on X with the caption: “Antonio Gates isn’t a 1st ballot HOFer??? Embarrassing.”
Perhaps Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network summed it up best.
He posted: “Wait, Antonio Gates didn’t get in? Huh?”