Is 2015 the Year the Chargers Transition from Antonio Gates to Ladarius Green?

After 538 yards in 15 games in 2012, the illustrious career of San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates was supposed to be winding down. It was Gates’ fourth straight year of decline, he was on the wrong side of 30 and the Chargers had just drafted 6’6” tight end Ladarius Green in the fourth round.

Two years later—an eternity in the NFL—the Chargers may finally transition from Gates to Green as their primary tight end. Unlike previous years, it isn’t just Green’s potential and Gates’ decline precipitating a change.

We now know that transitioning away from Gates any sooner would have been premature. Gates had two seasons the likes of which he hadn’t had since he was 29 and now stands on the precipice of 10,000 receiving yards and 100 receiving touchdowns—needing just a single touchdown catch to join the exclusive club that includes just one other tight end.

Player (* HOF)	Rec	Yds	TD
Jerry Rice*	1,549	22,895	197
Terrell Owens	1,078	15,934	153
Randy Moss	982	15,292	156
Tony Gonzalez (TE)	1,325	15,127	111
Tim Brown*	1,094	14,934	100
Marvin Harrison	1,102	14,580	128
Cris Carter*	1,101	13,899	130
Steve Largent*	819	13,089	100
Antonio Gates (TE)	788	10,014	99

Green also barely matched Gates’ 11.9 yards per reception in 2014, so fans and media alike may have exaggerated his potential. It was also a small sample, and Green doesn’t turn 25 until May, making him a full decade Gates’ junior, so there’s still plenty of time for him to realize his potential.

Aside from the ascending Green and descending Gates, there is a gaggle of other factors this year that will speed up the transition. Perhaps most importantly, Gates and quarterback Philip Rivers are both in the final years of their contracts.

Per Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, the chances of the Chargers trading Rivers to the Tennessee Titans are growing each day. If the Chargers were to make a blockbuster trade to move Rivers and get Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, it would significantly affect Gates.

The chemistry between Rivers and Gates is a big reason Gates has remained successful over the past few seasons. Gates’ yards-per-reception numbers really haven’t changed much over the past four years, but Rivers and the coaching staff made it a point to get him the ball with more frequency.

If Rivers were to be gone, it would make sense for the coaches to focus on the Mariota-to-Green connection more so than the Mariota-to-Gates connection. The Chargers would be embarking on a new era, and Gates’ contract status and age won’t allow him to be a big part of it.

Of all the players on the team, Gates is the most affected by Rivers' play. It’s probably no accident that Rivers and Gates are both entering contract years.

Even if all the rumors about Rivers being traded, that go along with all the extra due diligence on Mariota by the Chargers, turn out to be for nothing, the transition from Gates to Green still makes sense. Gates’ future—Rivers or not—is still very much up in the air.

“It could be one year for me, it could be four years, I don’t know,” Gates said, via Emily Kaplan of the MMQB.com. “I just wonder how I’ll handle it.”

Gates is worried about life after he leaves the game he loves behind and has started a second career as a boxing promoter in his hometown of Detroit. Whether Gates plays one or four years will largely depend on how his body feels, which could be in direct correlation with how much of the offense transitions to Green and others.

Player	2014 Snaps	Receptions	Yards	Touchdowns	Yards Per Route Run
Gates	787	69	821	12	1.56
Green	296	19	226	0	1.85

“With injuries and whatnot, I played a little bit more than they expected me to play last season,” Gates told Kaplan. “How I feel next year, it depends on how much volume they have me doing. I’d like to come in on third-and-7s, red zones, those situations. That’s what my contribution is at anyway.”

Gates is pleading for a lesser role, and the Chargers should oblige by transitioning a lot of what he does to Green and potentially new wide receiver Stevie Johnson. It seems they are also ready to do more with Green, although we’ve heard that before.

Head coach Mike McCoy acknowledged that the Chargers want to do a lot more with Green, via Michael Gehlken of U-T San Diego:

"

He worked extremely hard. I don't think it was anything he was physically doing out there. I think it was a matter of philosophically what we were doing with the players we had. We got into the 11 personnel game a lot, three receivers and a tight end. When you have the three receivers we had, and you've got Antonio Gates, (you'd have to) take the back out of the game. We need to use him more.

"

Perhaps part of the struggle with Green is that fans will expect him to be the next Gates. There’s no doubt he’s talented, but some of what Gates has done for the offense will have to be picked up by someone else not named Green.

To get the most from Green, the offense will have to change. Johnson, for example, thrives running the same kind of option routes that Gates normally runs, except outside the numbers. Green is more of a vertical threat than Gates at this point, so you would expect more targets down the field to him.

For that to work, as the Chargers know better than most, they need to give Rivers time to throw deep or a quarterback who can buy time with his legs like Mariota. Either way, the Chargers seem sold on working Green into the rotation more regularly.

“Ladarius has a lot of talent,” general manager Tom Telesco said, via Gehlken. “We'll get him in the mix. We will. He's too good not to."