The team seemed to move on from Gates, in the discussion of the greatest tight end in NFL history, this offseason. A season-ending innjury to Hunter Henry changed things.
This agreement was likely made months ago as Gates probably didn’t want to participate in training camp. The team gave tight ends such as Braedon Bowman, Cole Hunt, Ben Johnson and Je’Ron Hamm all summer to show what they could do.
They couldn’t do much.
Virgil Green and Sean Culkin were the only tight ends kept on the roster and neither is a particularly great option in the receiving game.