Gates uncertain about retirement: 'It's getting close, I don't know how close'

As Antonio Gates gets set to enter his 14th season, there's no telling how much further the San Diego Chargers tight end will go.

"It's so hard to say," the 36-year-old told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Gates, a Chargers mainstay and future Hall of Famer, admits he doesn't know if this will be his last season in the NFL.

"It's getting close. I don't know how close," he said of retirement. "I think about it more now than I ever did. I talk about it more now than I ever did. Days come up and I'm like, 'Oh man, I don't know.'"

He enters the year with 844 career receptions, 10,644 receiving yards, and 104 career touchdowns. He played in 11 games in 2015 - missing the first four games due to a PED suspension that he attributed to "supplements and holistic medicines" - tallying 630 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

Gates said he'll keep playing as long as he can keep producing.

"If I can find some way to get the most out of me, that in my mind is efficient enough, where I feel I'm playing at a level I'm comfortable with," he said.

"I've never come off the bench. I've never not contributed. So if it ever got to that point where I am not doing that, I don't know how I would feel as a person. All that stuff is still remaining to be seen when I play."

He also has a number of milestones within his reach. He's 356 receiving yards away from 11,000 total and he can surpass Tony Gonzalez as the all-time leader in career touchdowns by a tight end with eight more trips to the end zone.

"For me, it's about still playing well and being productive. And at the same time, winning a Super Bowl is the priority. So I have some things I can get done," Gates said. "I feel like if I get utilized in the right way, in the right manner, the right amount of times, I can still help win football games."

But with his skills diminishing while the punishment he endures on Sundays is unrelenting, Gates knows the day he hangs up his cleats draws near.

"I'm on third base coming home."