When he returned last year from a leg injury that nearly ended his career, Nick Gates hoped to show the Giants’ new brass enough to earn a longer-term deal as a free agent this offseason and stay in New York.
That will not happen, but Gates is staying in the NFC East, reportedly signing a three-year deal with the Washington Commanders, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
It was against the Commanders in Week 2 of 2021 that Gates suffered a broken fibula and tibia, an injury that required seven surgeries and kept Gates off the field for a full year.
Before that injury, Gates, who was undrafted out of Nebraska in 2018, had started all 16 games at center for Big Blue in 2020, and he has played both guard spots as well as some snaps at right tackle in his career.
After his return, he played 10 games (and started eight) at both left guard and center, so his versatility will be a benefit to the Commanders’ line.
Art Stapleton, the Giants’ beat reporter for the Bergen Record, tweeted Monday that he had spoken to Gates over the weekend and “got the sense he was not returning to the Giants.”
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