Even with one of the biggest drafts in team history (from a fan perspective) just hours away, the talk in Chiefs kingdom for the past 28 hours or so has been the trade of tight end Tony Gonzalez. With not much time to collect them, here are my thoughts.
First, from a trade perspective: Scott Pioli knows a hell of a lot more about these things than I do - and I believe he knows what he's doing. If he thinks a 2010 2nd round pick is fair compensation, I agree. I hope that he is able to flip that into something more tomorrow as opposed to something more next year. Only time will tell. Tony wanted a chance to win, he felt the Falcons could give them that. I respect that.
My perspective: Tony Gonzalez is, and likely will remain, my all-time favorite Chief. In my life I've only owned 2 Chiefs' jerseys: #19 (Joe Montana, knock-off), and #88 (semi-authentic). He is the greatest Chief of my lifetime and I believe him to be the greatest Chief ever. I also believe him to be the greatest tight end in the history of the National Football League. He holds every Chiefs receiving record and every NFL receiving record for his position. Tight end is not a highly valued position, but you can attribute the modern NFL prototype to Gonzalez and the way he's played since the Chiefs drafted him in 1997. Antonio Gates, Kellen Winslow Jr., Jeremy Shockey, Vernon Davis - and every other highly-touted tight end drafted since - have lived (and failed) in Tony Gonzalez's shadow.
He wasn't always happy with what the Chiefs did, or even with being a Chief, and he wasn't afraid of saying so. But that never stopped him from working hard and playing to the best of his ability. In terms of conditioning and practice, he was a model football player. It showed through on gameday, when even in his 12th season in the pros he caught everything in his area code, routinely defeated double coverage, and always popped back up after bone-jarring hits. He was the brightest of very few bright spots in the 2008 season, the worst in Chiefs history.
He said is his introductory press-conference today that he loved Kansas City and he will retire a Chief. I hope that's true. Good luck, T-Gon.
No comments:
Post a Comment