28-year old Antonio Gates has been a little banged up lately and the Chargers can’t afford to be without him at all in 2008.  Gates played in all 16 games for the Chargers last season and he caught 75 passes for 984 yards (13.1 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  Gates is a mis-match for any defender who tries to cover him as he is too big for defensive backs to deal with and he’s too fast for linebackers.  He also wins a lot of jump balls near the goal line where he is often lethal.  Gates has now played in 77 games in his NFL career and he has caught 340 passes for 4,362 yards (12.8 avg) with 43 TD grabs.  Look for Gates to again be in Hawaii in February as long as he can stay healthy.

6’2″, 288 pound Brandon Manumaleuna is a huge run blocking tight end.  Don’t expect him to catch a lot of passes but that’s not his job anyway.  Manumaleuna played in all 16 games for the Chargers last season and he caught 10 passes for 86 yards (8.6 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Don’t expect him to catch many passes this season even if Gates is hurting.  Manumaleuna has now played in 110 games in his NFL career and he has caught 90 passes for 825 yards (9.2 avg) with 10 TD grabs.

2nd year TE Scott Chandler didn’t play much as a rookie last season.  He’s a better receiver than blocker so he might be the main TE in the passing game if Antonio Gates misses time due to injury.  Chandler played in 1 game for the Chargers last season and he didn’t catch any passes as a rookie.  Bold prediction for 2008…..he’ll catch at least 1 pass this season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  A