Tony Gonzalez, the 37-year-old ageless wonder, was supposed to retire at the conclusion of last season, a year in which he was the crème de la crème at a position expected to be dominated by younger talent like Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham.
Instead of slowly declining and fading away, Gonzalez outlasted and out produced the other two big names and became one of the top reasons Atlanta was one half away from a Super Bowl berth. Last season, Gonzalez had 93 catches for 930 yards and eight touchdowns. Of those totals, the scores are fewer than Gronkowski's 11, and the yards less than Graham's 982, but Gonzalez played in every game and started 15 of them. Gronkowski injured his forearm in Week 11 while Graham went through a litany of maladies and only started nine times.
The Falcons were 13-3 in 2012, and their passing attack was one of the best in the NFL largely due to Gonzalez freeing up the elite receivers on the edges (Roddy White and Julio Jones). After a come-from-behind victory against the Seattle Seahawks in the postseason, the first playoff win of Gonzalez' storied 16-year career, Gonzalez became extremely emotional and said he was 95 percent sure he'd be hanging up the cleats at year's end.
Sources close to the Falcons and Gonzalez are now privately saying that may not be the case. An unnamed Falcons player said, "He will come back if they pay him $7 million and he doesn't have to do training camp." Another team source corroborated the player's thinking, saying "If we offer him the money, he'll most likely be back for one more. He'll most likely be looking to miss training camp, though."
The Falcons were said to be considering drafting Gonzalez' replacement with the 30th pick in the upcoming draft, eyeing Tyler Eifert of Notre Dame and Zac Ertz of Stanford. Even if they do draft one of those tight ends, re-signing Gonzalez is expected to be a priority.
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