Chiefs sign Gonzo to EXPENSIVE extension

[Kaylore]

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/01...act_extension/
Chiefs and Gonzalez agree in Principle to a Five-Year Contract Extension
Jan 12, 2007, 9:23:22 AM

Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Friday that TE Tony Gonzalez agreed in principle to a five-year contract extension. As per Chiefs policy, no further terms of the agreement were announced.

“Simplistically, we’re very pleased to get this done,” Peterson said. “It will, in all essence, allow Tony Gonzalez to finish his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. The obvious is he’s been a very, very productive player for us. I think for our fans in Kansas City it was important for us to get this done. He’s done a marvelous job for us both on and off the football field.”

Gonzalez (6-5, 251) has appeared in 158 career NFL games (142 starts), including starts in 142 of the last 144 contests. He owns the top mark in Chiefs history with 721 receptions for 8,710 yards (12.1 avg.) and 61 touchdowns. His 8,710 receiving yards and 721 receptions rank second in NFL history among TEs, trailing only TE Shannon Sharpe. He needs two more receiving TDs to pass Sharpe (62) for the most by a TE in NFL annals.

The 10-year NFL veteran earned his eighth straight appearance to the NFL’s annual All-Star Game this year. The only Chiefs TE ever selected to the Pro Bowl, Gonzalez joins Fred Arbanas as the only other Kansas City TE to earn a berth in the Pro Bowl or the AFL All-Star Game. Arbanas made five AFL All-Star appearances (’62-65 and ‘67). Those eight Pro Bowl invites are tied with Sharpe for the most by a tight end in NFL history. Gonzalez started 15 games in 2006, leading the club with 73 receptions for 900 yards with five touchdowns. The Torrance, California native caught a club-record 102 passes for 1,258 yards (12.3 avg.) with seven touchdowns in 2004.

At the University of California, Gonzalez saw action in 33 games on the gridiron, catching 89 passes for 1,302 yards (14.6 avg.) with eight touchdowns.


I'm not surprised by this. They pretty much had no choice. Can you imagine their offense with just Green and old Kennison? Looks like they're hanging onto their offense for dear life.

[Smith80HOF]

beat me to this story, poor gonzalez - he'll end his brillant career with no superbowl rings while continuing to be a part of a piece of **** franchise.

[Rohirrim]

Too bad for Tony. Guess he'll never get that ring.

[KipCorrington25]

At least this is over and it won't drag out all winter.

[Garcia Bronco]

He was probably told he would have been franchised until the end of time.

Good move by CP to get him in early.....otherwise he would have had to make some tough choices

[-Slap-]

That's good. He should retire as a Chief. Its too bad we couldn't bring him over here for the Neil Smith treatment, but that's the way it goes.

What an amazingly consistent career.

+-------------------------+
                 |        Receiving        |
+----------+-----+-------------------------+
| Year  TM |   G |   Rec  Yards   Y/R   TD |
+----------+-----+-------------------------+
| 1997 kan |  16 |    33    368  11.2    2 |
| 1998 kan |  16 |    59    621  10.5    2 |
| 1999 kan |  15 |    76    849  11.2   11 |
| 2000 kan |  16 |    93   1203  12.9    9 |
| 2001 kan |  16 |    73    917  12.6    6 |
| 2002 kan |  16 |    63    773  12.3    7 |
| 2003 kan |  16 |    71    916  12.9   10 |
| 2004 kan |  16 |   102   1258  12.3    7 |
| 2005 kan |  16 |    78    905  11.6    2 |
| 2006 kan |  15 |    73    900  12.3    5 |
+----------+-----+-------------------------+
|  TOTAL   | 158 |   721   8710  12.1   61 |
+----------+-----+-------------------------+

Postseason data

 Year  Opp   Result  |  REC    YD  TD
---------------------+-----------------
 1997  den  L,10-14  |    3    26   1
 2003  ind  L,31-38  |    4    55   0
 2006  ind  L,8-23   |    4    25   1
---------------------+-----------------
TOTAL                |   11   106   2

[Kaylore]

I'll agree that right now it doesn't look like the rosiest career move in terms of building a legacy. Their line is crap. Trent Green is playing like crap. Shields is going to either come back more fragile and older or retire, or in other words their interior line is going to get crappier. Parker is crap. Kennison is approaching crap. Larry Johnson hit the 400+ carry mark which historically means from then on you = crap.

You ask any Chief fan they'll tell you their offense hung them out to dry. Their D isn't world beaters, but it was good enough to make a playoff run if their O would have shown up.

Gonzo's biggest problem is their tackles suck so they have to keep him in to block all the time. Also consider he's at the age where your production as a tight end kind of falls off.

Yeah, it doesn't look like a great move for his legacy, but consider that we were able to re-load our entire offense in one offseason: Cutler, Scheffler, Mike Bell, Walker, Marshall, Kuper. All those guys are going to start and all but one are rookies, with Walker being the lone exception and he's entering his prime.

Now it would be ridiculous to suggest that the Chiefs can do the same thing simply because we did, but I'm just pointing out that it's not impossible to put enough players together make your offense decent.

The only thing I don't think they will be able to overcome is the QB situation. It's so, so hard to find a good QB and most franchises go a decade or more before they find a really good one. I don't think Huard is the answer, but who knows?

Chiefs suck.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Good - Another over the hill guy to chewing up their cap and we won't have to listen to some here claim the Broncs should gut their cap to sign him.

[bendog]

The way the chorfs are going Gonzo may finish like Fred Arbanes ... with only one eye.

[400HZ]

I'd definetely have mixed feelings if I was a queefs fan. Gonzo is a great player, no doubt. Unfortunately, everybody on that offense is either A) Old B) Sucks or C) all of the above. And it's not like KC has much cap room to work with. Letting Gonzalez walk would have been a good first step in rebuilding. Let one of the old timers go and free up cap space to bring in some young blood...that would have made more sense to me.

[Kaylore]

Originally Posted by 400HZ

Letting Gonzalez walk would have been a good first step in rebuilding. Let one of the old timers go and free up cap space to bring in some young blood...that would have made more sense to me.

I totally disagree. Carl had no choice. Gonzo's a fan favorite and one of their only good players on offense left who isn't old. A move like this keeps the fans happy and presents the illusion that he really cares. Even though the other areas need to be addressed, as long as they get some home wins and beat the Broncos in the regular season in their "Super Bowl," the fans will happily buy their tickets and jerseys, feed the mediocrity and be none the wiser.

[NaptownChief]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

I totally disagree. Carl had no choice. Gonzo's a fan favorite and one of their only good players on offense left who isn't old. A move like this keeps the fans happy and presents the illusion that he really cares. Even though the other areas need to be addressed, as long as they get some home wins and beat the Broncos in the regular season in their "Super Bowl," the fans will happily buy their tickets and jerseys, feed the mediocrity and be none the wiser.

If I were GM I probably would have let him walk. He will cost a ton of money and isn't a spring chicken anymore. Probably has anothe good season or two in him but by the end of the contract you will be paying far more than the production warrants. But the second and biggest reason why I wouldn't do it is because of Herm Average. He has little desire to pass the ball much and no need to pay top dollar for a TE that is going to spend most of his time being asked to block. The third and final reason is in this day and age with TE's being used a lot more in the NFL and starting to get paid we have seen a lot more good athletes playing the position in college making for a lot more available TE talent.

[Atlas]

It's always nice to sign your TE with declining skills to a large 5 year extension. Nice.

[yerner]

Why wouldn't he test the market? Seems like a bad move.

[bendog]

Originally Posted by yerner

Why wouldn't he test the market? Seems like a bad move.

King Carl would've franchise tagged him and told him to 'sit the **** down!'

This way he's got jack up front in bonus, which I would hope for the chorfs was way high, because if it was Gonzo prolly would let them back load the contract on base salar so that it's really only a 3 year deal or so. And Gonzo still has lots more security in case of injury than he'd have with the one year franchise tag deal.

[DenverBrit]

Originally Posted by Big Guy

Good - Another over the hill guy to chewing up their cap and we won't have to listen to some here claim the Broncs should gut their cap to sign him.

Talk about an insane cap move. The Chiefs have ensured that they will be in cap hell for a few years. Gonzo is a great talent, but the money they are paying will be needed to rebuild an ancient offense. I hope King Carl stays with KC for years to come.


The Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez told FOXSports.com that he is very close to a five-year extension to remain in Kansas City rather than hit the free agent market. The deal includes a stunning $17 million in guaranteed bonus money and averages more than $6.25 million per year — huge numbers for a tight end — with $18 million over the first three years

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6362970?FSO1&ATT=HMA

[Rohirrim]

$18 mil for the first 3 years and a guaranteed 17 mil!?! Carl has done it again. At that price, I guess Gonzo could care less that the Cheffies are going to require a complete overhaul after next season with little hope of seeing the playoffs again before his contract expires.

[bpc]

Good move for the chiefs. He played strong this year and he can finish his career there.

Amazing to look at Tony G's stats when he was young and then think about what Scheff could be doing for us in the long haul. I'm excited.

[broncosteven]

Originally Posted by NaptownChief

If I were GM I probably would have let him walk. He will cost a ton of money and isn't a spring chicken anymore. Probably has anothe good season or two in him but by the end of the contract you will be paying far more than the production warrants. But the second and biggest reason why I wouldn't do it is because of Herm Average. He has little desire to pass the ball much and no need to pay top dollar for a TE that is going to spend most of his time being asked to block. The third and final reason is in this day and age with TE's being used a lot more in the NFL and starting to get paid we have seen a lot more good athletes playing the position in college making for a lot more available TE talent.

Nappy is right. I am glad TG is a Cheef. I like to see the franchise players stay with their teams anyway. Too bad Herm will shorten his career by making him block.

[DomCasual]

Hey, so I've been wondering - what happened to Bob? Did he get banned? Lose a bet and finally live up to it?

[BABronco]

he lost a bet and is spose to be gone year i think

[maven]

Originally Posted by NaptownChief

If I were GM I probably would have let him walk. He will cost a ton of money and isn't a spring chicken anymore. Probably has anothe good season or two in him but by the end of the contract you will be paying far more than the production warrants. But the second and biggest reason why I wouldn't do it is because of Herm Average. He has little desire to pass the ball much and no need to pay top dollar for a TE that is going to spend most of his time being asked to block. The third and final reason is in this day and age with TE's being used a lot more in the NFL and starting to get paid we have seen a lot more good athletes playing the position in college making for a lot more available TE talent.

Good points. I would have let him walk also. There's a lot of talent at the position every year. Plus, they play for peanuts for 3-5 years on a rookie contract.

[Florida_Bronco]

Originally Posted by BABronco

he lost a bet and is spose to be gone year i think

That is correct.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Guess he will be back just when the Broncos are winning playoff games and the Squaws are sitting at home

[OrangeShadow]

great another 5 years of gonzo making dumb threads


































oh,wrong gonzo