All-Pro tight end and fantasy stud Antonio Gates is coming off toe surgery, and he’s not recovering as quickly as he’d like.
Before the rest of the team practiced in the afternoon, Gates ran routes in the morning – taking off and stopping and catching passes and appearing to be close to his All-Pro form.
“It looks better than it feels,” Gates said later. “ . . . It’s not as comfortable as it looks. I got through it. The pain is tolerable.”
Gates is still feeling a high level of discomfort in his left big toe. And even though he’s been told by the medical staff that setbacks and stalling is normal, he is extremely frustrated with his level of improvement.
“It’s about the same as it was last week,” he said. “My whole thing is I want to see progress, and I want to see it fast.”
He went as far as to say if the Chargers had a game that counted this week, he “would dress and try to play.” He still believes he will play in the Sept. 7 season opener.
But he reiterated his earlier vow not to return before he is entirely ready.
Gates is still a top 4 TE (Witten, Winslow and Gonzo are the other three) but right now, he has the most question marks surrounding him. Will he be ready for the opener? Will his toe heal completely at some point in the season? Is this something that is going to bother or limit his production?
I love Gates and I’m an advocate of having a weapon at the TE spot, but if I’m drafting right now, I’d rather have Chris Cooley in the 7th (or Todd Heap/Vernon Davis in the 8th/9th) than Gates in the 4th/5th.
