Atlanta Falcons' fans will have to wait a little longer for the anticipated return of tight end Tony Gonzalez. At the end of the 2012-13 season, it was assumed the future Hall of Famer was calling it a career. He announced in a postgame press conference he was pretty sure he would be retiring. But after some strong convincing from head coach Mike Smith and family member, Gonzalez signed another two-year contract. So where is he?
Gonzalez is not present at the Falcons' mandatory minicamp going on this week, but the team was not expecting to see him. Smith had already excused Gonzalez from camp, a deal which was worked out while the tight end was negotiating his contract. After 16 seasons in the NFL, Gonzalez knows how to handle the offseason and the head coach expects him to be fully prepared come Week 1.
"Tony has been doing this for a long time. He's 37 years old. There's no reason for Tony not to be...resting his body and getting ready for the regular season. Our main goal every year is to have our players ready for the first game and each player takes a little different path to get there. Tony's a lot different from there young players that haven't played a whole lot for us," Smith said.
With the absence of Gonzalez, Chase Coffman has been getting most of the first-team reps. He has made a number of impressive catches in traffic, looking like a Gonzalez replica. The tight end will likely call it a career after this season and the Falcons will need to groom his replacement.
While it was assumed Gonzelez would not be back for another year with the Falcons, the tight end said his 12-year old son was the deciding factor in his return. His main reason for retiring was to spend more time with his family, but his son, Nikko, told him he owed it to himself to give the Super Bowl one more shot.
"Really the biggest factor for me to come back this year was my son, Nikko. He doesn't live with me, he lives with his mom and stepdad out in Los Angeles during the football season, and it's been that way his whole life. And I just said, 'You know what, I want to spend more time with my son.' And that was really one of the main reasons I was going to retire. But he was the one who talked me back into it," Gonzalez said to ESPN.
Gonzalez currently holds the record for most touchdown receptions by a tight end with 103. The Falcons came within nine yards of the Super Bowl last season and Gonzalez is hoping they can get one more shot at it in 2013.
