This story has kind of been floating around out there in the ether. In 2008, legendary tight end Tony Gonzalez asked the Kansas City Chiefs to trade him. The request came during the season, as the Chiefs were full-on rebuilding, and Gonzalez wanted to play for a winner.
Surprisingly, the Green Bay Packers were fully in on Gonzalez (along with the Philadelphia Eagles). The deal never got done, of course.
The Packers had agreed to give up a third-round pick and a tight end for Gonzalez. Gonzalez doesn’t recall who that tight end was, but it was most likely Donald Lee. Although it could have been rookie Jermichael Finley.
The Eagles were offering a third and tight end L.J. Smith.
The Packers agreed to the third-round asking price shortly before the trade deadline. Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson then asked the Packers to give up a second-round pick. That killed the whole deal.
Here’s how Gonzalez recalls it.
What I heard was the Packers said ‘ok we’ll do it for a three’ at the last second. That’s when Carl Peterson said “alright if you give a three, how about a second-round draft choice?”
The problem is that the paperwork was already being drawn up. Even if a team now agreed to Carl’s new terms there wasn’t enough time to counter or renegotiate so Carl blew it out the water.
I see Carl now, I’m not upset with him. Of course it bothered me, especially if I had gone to the Packers because they ended up winning the Super Bowl a year later. I would have been on that team. I would have been able to play with someone like Aaron Rodgers. It’s worked out for me anyway, I got to play with Matt Ryan in Atlanta. But yeah, I was obviously very upset by that.
Gonzalez was traded to the Falcons after the season and played five more years. He never did with that Super Bowl, though.
The Packers ended up being fine at tight end for a while, as Finley began to develop in his second season. Of course, Finley is no Tony Gonzalez.
It would have been interesting to see what Rodgers would have done with a weapon like that. Thanks a lot, you meddling prick, Carl Peterson.
1 Comment
McCarthy would have been befuddled with what to do with one of the all time great tight ends. Just as Dean Smith was the only person who could shut down Michael Jordan, MM is the only one who can throttle a talented TE. Please send MM to CLE or NYJ, both Packers and he need a new start. New offense, same as the old offense. What a poser.