COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn says he hasn’t forbidden Philip Rivers or Antonio Gates from attending former teammate LaDainian Tomlinson’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.
But Lynn also didn’t say Monday whether Rivers and Gates will instead be at the Chargers’ joint practice Saturday with the Los Angeles Rams at StubHub Center. The workout is the Chargers’ first team activity in their new home stadium.
”I’ve talked to Philip, I’ve talked to Antonio (and) I’ve even talked to L.T.,” Lynn said after the second practice of training camp. ”We’re all on the same page. At the end of the day, we’re going to make the best decision for our football team, and that’s it.”
Rivers told the NFL Network he won’t travel to Canton for the ceremony honoring Tomlinson, the Chargers’ longtime star running back. Gates hasn’t said where he will be.
But Lynn squashed the notion that he had ordered his two veterans to stay in camp, saying: ”I don’t know where that came from. I guess you just can’t believe everything you read on Twitter.”
Tomlinson, Rivers and Gates were teammates for six seasons, and they formed one of the NFL’s most tantalizing trios of offensive talent from 2006-09, the period between Rivers’ promotion to the starting job and Tomlinson’s departure for the New York Jets.
San Diego won 46 games and four consecutive AFC West titles in that four-year stretch, also getting three playoff victories and an appearance in the conference championship game after the 2007 season.
Lynn noted that he has his own personal interest in the Canton ceremony with the simultaneous induction of Terrell Davis, his good friend and former teammate. Davis and Lynn were running backs on the Denver Broncos’ two championship teams from the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
”We’ve talked about it, and trust me, I’ve got a personal friend that’s going into that Hall of Fame,” Lynn said. ”And I coached LaDainian Tomlinson (with the Jets). I would love to be there, and I know how important that is, how big of an accomplishment that is. So I get it, I get it. But those guys are torn a bit because we’re having our first practice against the Rams in StubHub, and they want to be there with their teammates, but we’ll see.”
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