Antonio Gates Misses Hall Of Fame Cut

Antonio Gates will have to wait at least 12 more months for his gold jacket ... TMZ Sports has learned the NFL legend did NOT make this year's Hall of Fame cut.

Our sources tell us when officials made calls Thursday morning to inform finalists and their reps if they got the green light or not to Canton ... Gates received bad news.

It's, of course, shocking ... as most pundits believed the 43-year-old was definitely deserving of the first-ballot nod.

After all, the ex-tight end compiled 11,841 receiving yards on 955 catches ... while recording 116 total touchdowns. According to Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame Monitor metric system, only three tight ends in the history of the league -- Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce -- were more deserving of a bust.

Gates himself certainly appeared to think he was in ... he told us back in November he believed he and Julius Peppers were going to get the call.

It's unclear who got in ahead of Gates this year ... but other finalists included Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester, Andre Johnson, Torry Holt, and Patrick Willis.