Antonio Gates was better than Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski

[Raquinotj]

Gates like an A+ Receiver, F Blocker
Gronk an A in both

Don't matter though, Wallers non-blocking ass coming for the crown

this is “washed up” Gronk 1 on 1 Blocking some guy that’s pretty good at getting to the QB





and another clip…

 

[Th3G3ntleman]

Feels like a different era even though he was recently playing. I think Gates in his prime would be in the mix with the other tight ends of this era. I just can't say for sure he's better than those two or that crackhead in Oakland.

 

[Trojan 24]

this is “washed up” Gronk 1 on 1 Blocking some guy that’s pretty good at getting to the QB




and another clip…

The Gonk

 

[BucciMane]

I know some don't think that Gronk's blocking is that important in the grand scheme of being an elite TE, but he was/is such a dominant blocker. This isn't like someone overhyping an NBA player that is great at defense, when we all know offensive firepower wins out, and that you can mask an NBA's player defensive liabilities with difference defensive looks.

Look at last years Super Bowl and what happened to the Chiefs when they couldn't protect Mahomes. He's is probably the most dominant red-zone player I've seen, and he's still tearing it up at his current age.

And, he's not just blocking scrubs. Sent a DPOTY falling on his ass..

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Hernandez was excellent, but I believe there have been more players similar to him than Gronk. I absolutely loved watching him play. If they continued to play together, they would have been an all-time duo..



Some of the moves Hernandez could make were just........

aaron played a lot of basketball. think it helped his agility/footwork

 

[Trot LaRoc]

Gates is not better at Gronk at anything besides availability.

Gates was damn good but he isnt the greatest.

 

[Trot LaRoc]

Hernandez would have been better than all 3 if he didn't choose serial killing over football

Nope.

Gates simply suffered from being a low profile, on a non contending team. If not for that we'd all be talking about him as one of the greats.

He's better than Kelce, but he and Gronk are debatable imo....if i had to choose either one who was healthy, i'd probably go with gronk

Chargers were a perennial playoff team that made runs....they werent the Detroit Lions

 

[BucciMane]

And, I'll say it, put Rice aside, and you can argue taking Gronk over any WT or TE to ever play..

 

[BucciMane]

Nope.


Chargers were a perennial playoff team that made runs....they werent the Detroit Lions

People forget how hyped and great the Chargers were.

It was the Patriots, Colts, and Chargers every year. Those were the days..

 

[BucciMane]

Seems like just yesterday that we were watching the Troy Brown fumble play..

 

[broller]

Enough said. Gronk is the biggest mismatch in NFL history. He has 14 receiving TDs in 20 playoff games. He is in Jerry Rice company as a playoff receiver & there is no one else in their echelon. The nerds bringing up counting stats are intentionally omitting the fact that Gronk has played one 16 game full season since entering the league. On a per game basis, he’s the most productive receiving TE in league history.

Instead of trying to knock Gronk down a peg & diminishing Antonio Gates in the process, let’s acknowledge the reality that part two of the Patriots dynasty is impossible without Gronk & thats the reason Brady dragged him out of retirement to play in TB.

Word. And to me it's a fact Gronk was the Patriots best player from 2011-2017, not Brady. QBs are more important, but Gronk was better at TE than Brady at QB in my mind.

 

[Reggie]

How was he the most dominant ever? Again, outside of touchdowns Kelce does what gronk did in his best season, every season.

Gronk NEVER had a 100 catch season and Kelce is working on his 3rd

And for as great as his best season was Gronk got a bunch of 40 catches for 600 yards and 5 touchdown catches ? How is that dominant ?

Kelce aint never once ever caught less than 65 passes in a season. Gronk spent half his career not even catching that many passes.

Dude is the ultimate look the part athlete. It sure does look cool when Gronk catches it and runs over some safety and does his little cac dance and spikes the ball. That don't have anything to do with the fact that Kelce has played 2 less years than gronk and ALREADY has more catches than him and will likely eclipse him in yards this year.

Posters in here talking about the dominance of a player where there is a player who plays the same position as him putting up better numbers in less games

If you think gronk is dominant then you got to think Gates and Kelce are deity's.

Every time these Gronk threads come up no one calling gronk dominant ever talks about how many catches he had, or how many yards he had, or how many great seasons in a row he had. Me thinks its because if you were to actually do that it would be very easy to show tight ends who did it better for longer...

The hardest part of dominance is consistency. Anybody can have a great year or two or even three. You know why Kelce got 5 straight years of at least 80 catches and 1100 yards ? Cause he is that good. You know why Gronk don't have a stretch of 5 years like that ? Cause he's not good enough to.

I don't even know how you could fix your mouth to even say Gronk was better than Gates. The top 6 years of Gates career are almost as productive as Gronks whole career .

We do understand the number one priority of a tight end is to catch the football, get yards, and score right ? Blocking is great but there is a reason why pass catching tight ends go in the second round and blocking tight ends go in the 6th.

Comparing a dude who got over 900 catches to a dude who don't even have 600 ? This is embarrassing even for the coli

Kelce may be more consistent cause of the health factor but
Gronks health is the only thing holding him back from the greatest ever title. Gronk has double the touchdowns of Kelce for the most part in like 20 games less. And Kelce does have 5 straight 1000 yard seasons but let's not act like Gronk doesn't have 4 himself as well.

 

[Trojan 24]

Kelce may be more consistent cause of the health factor but
Gronks health is the only thing holding him back from the greatest ever title. Gronk has double the touchdowns of Kelce for the most part in like 20 games less. And Kelce does have 5 straight 1000 yard seasons but let's not act like Gronk doesn't have 4 himself as well.

Gronk also didn't have Hill stretching the field, besides the years with Hernandez it was a rotating door of shifty Cacs

 

[NYSTATEOFMIND]

Over Kelce yes, but over Gronk? Nope

you can definitely make the argument- Gates was better than Kelce- Gates was dominate without having a speed demon like Hill to open up the middle

but Gronk...Nah....Gronk was a good route runner for a TE, good hands...and DOMINANT as a blocker

Gates was an ok blocker and Kelce cant block my grandma

 

[Juggalo Fred]

Gronk also didn't have Hill stretching the field, besides the years with Hernandez it was a rotating door of shifty Cacs

In 2019 when Hill missed four games Kelce still ate