San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates will be entering his 13th NFL season this fall. Gates will have to wait for his storied career to continue, however, because he was suspended on July 2 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. One has to wonder if a starting job will be awaiting Gates when he finally returns.

The former Kent State basketball star certainly is still on top of his game, even at age 35. Of course, there are now questions if Gates’ grand statistics are related to his alleged PED use. In 2012, San Diego selected Ladarius Green in the fourth round of the draft. That pick was made to not only give Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers another weapon from the tight end spot, but also to keep Gates hungry.

Green is 10 years younger than Gates, a couple inches taller and a lot faster. There is no loss for San Diego at tight end while Gates serves his suspension. The younger Charger can split the seam for San Diego’s offense and make it a nightmare for slow linebackers and safeties to cover him. He did have a somewhat disappointing 2014 with only 19 catches for 226 yards. While Green failed to reach the end zone a year ago, the veteran Gates scored a dozen times. Gates also passed Lance Alworth as the Chargers’ all-time leader in receiving yards and eclipsed the 10,000-yard mark in receiving for his career.

One thing going for Gates is his on-field relationship with Rivers. San Diego’s signal caller ended up staying with the team after trade rumors circulated around him this offseason. If Rivers is as disheartened as some reports in San Diego suggest, you can bet that he would be even more ticked off if he didn’t have his safety net (Gates) in the starting lineup. Rivers once joked that he could throw a TD pass to Gates while wearing a blindfold. A comment like that proves that it’ll take a ton to drop the former Flash on the San Diego depth chart.

The four games Gates will miss are against the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns. His return date is October 12 when the Chargers host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. Not having Gates will probably not mean his team can’t win those first four contests, but if San Diego is down in any of those games, you know Rivers will miss looking for him. His absence will also give all of us fans a sneak preview of what it will be like when Gates finally calls it quits and awaits his call to Canton.

Nik Zirounis is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @realnikz and like him on Facebook