| It’s only May, but one has to wonder what
Tony Gonzalez’s frame of mind will be come training camp. I mean, how often does your
boss write a letter to the hometown newspaper to let the public know how unhappy he is
with the fact you won’t accept the company’s generous offer?
Can’t say it’s happened to me. But as for Tony, well, he can’t say the
same thing anymore. Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson wrote a letter to the Kansas
City Star last week, stating that he was "furious" that the All-Pro refused
to sign a deal that included the most money ever offered to a tight end.
According to Peterson, Gonzalez and his agent, Tom Condon, turned down the largest
salary and bonus in team history and significantly more money than the largest salary and
bonus for a tight end in the history of the league.
They’re negotiating because the Chiefs were unable to come to terms on a long-term
deal with Gonzalez, an unrestricted free agent, and feared he would bolt for greener
pastures, so they slapped the franchise tag on him earlier this spring, which eliminates
any opportunity to talk with other clubs.
The tag, in accordance with the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, means
Gonzalez will make the average salary (in a one-year deal) of the five highest-paid tight
ends in the league, a figure that is expected to be in the $3 million range for 2002.
The Chiefs' coaching staff views the athletic Gonzalez, the league’s best
pass-catching tight end, as a wide receiver and the focal point of their passing game. And
for good reason. Consequently, Gonzalez wants to be paid like a wide receiver. That’s
where things get sticky, because a good tight end rarely makes more than about half of the
sum a good wide receiver brings home. Peterson has said the Chiefs will pay Gonzalez like
the best in the business. Best tight end, that is, not an elite wide receiver. And keep in
mind tight ends are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of average pay for starters.
"I have to once again remind them that he’s not a wide receiver,"
Peterson told the Kansas City Star. "If he wanted to be a wide receiver, he
should have become one in college."
Ouch. Is it just me, or does Peterson sound like a kid at the start of a childish
argument here?
"Is he the best tight end in the NFL?" Peterson asks. "Certainly,
arguably, yes. Have we tried to pay him accordingly? Absolutely and unequivocally yes. I
don’t want to make it sound that Tony is being greedy or overgreedy. But at some
point, common sense has to overtake greed."
The Rams-style spread offense installed a year ago by head coach Dick Vermeil and
offensive coordinator Al Saunders was supposed to open things up for Gonzalez. With a
plethora of formations and shifts and motion and everything else imaginable to keep
defenses on their heels, Gonzalez was supposed to turn every Sunday into a field day. The
Chiefs moved him around, split him out wide, got him in space against overmatched
linebackers, and yet his numbers dropped off. Quite a bit, actually. His catch total went
from 93 in 2000 to 73 last season, while his TD total fell from nine to six.
Those statistics, combined with the fact there was little or no communication on a
long-term extension until recently and the Chiefs' placement of the franchise tag, which
NFL players choose to view as the kiss of death, and you have all the makings of a
training-camp dilemma.
Chiefs representatives informed Gonzalez before the team’s minicamp in early May
that they would insure him in case of an injury because he isn’t under contract. The
Chiefs wanted him in camp because there is a lot of work to be done, and the more reps
they can get QB Trent Green with an arsenal that now includes former Lions WR Johnnie
Morton and the healing Sylvester Morris, the better off they’ll be.
No long-term deal can actually be signed until after July 15, or the Chiefs would lose
their franchise designation for the length of the deal. But that hasn’t stopped
Peterson from spewing some P.R. venom at the thought of being so far apart from agreeing
in principle.
Peterson wants Gonzalez to sign the one-year deal as the team’s franchise player;
then they can jump into talks for a multiyear extension. But for now, it will have to
wait, as the deal Peterson speaks of has been yanked off the table.
Peterson says he loves Gonzalez, and that Gonzalez is great for the Chiefs and terrific
in the community. But Peterson also says that it might get personal between himself and
Condon.
At some point, according to Peterson, common sense has to overtake greed. But at what
point does that happen, and who should give in for it to happen? Stay tuned. This could
get interesting. |
