Carl: It Was Never Close
Speaking from St. Petersburg, Florida where the NFL is holding its annual October meetings, Carl Peterson said Tuesday night that a deal for Tony Gonzalez was never close to happening.
“No, it was never close,” Peterson said. “For a player of Tony’s stature I was willing to accommodate something I don’t normally do. I went out to see if there were teams interested in him. I did that and there were very few teams that were interested.
“Tony and his representative (Tom Condon) knew from the start that any deal had to make sense for the Kansas City Chiefs and no one came close. No proposal compared to the value of Tony Gonzalez to the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Peterson said it all came down to three teams that he would not identify. He would not comment on the proposals, but said none of them contained a first-day draft choice (rounds one through three) in compensation.
“I used as my measuring stick the fact that the New York Giants got a second and fifth round picks for Jeremy Shockey,” said Peterson. “Although he is five years younger, in my opinion he’s not as good and never will be as good as Tony Gonzalez. Had a team come to us with a second-round pick, then there would have been a reason to continue the conversation. That never happened.
“As far as I’m concerned, if you trade Tony Gonzalez for a second-day draft pick, you really have demeaned one helluva football player. I know where he’s at, I know he’s 32 years old. His value to the Kansas City Chiefs exceeds anything that was offered.
“I listened to proposals that were not even close.”
Does Peterson have any concerns about Gonzalez and his return to the team after this disappointment?
“I saw some comments made by Brian Waters and I have to agree with them; I think Tony will be a professional and he’ll handle this the way he’s done everything else, by coming in and working hard,” Peterson said. “I’m sure he’s not happy, but he understood the situation from the start.
“We were not going to just give Tony Gonzalez away. He understood that wasn’t going to happen.”
It was nice of carl to step up and be heard. I wonder, carl, I heard herm press conference, it is pretty obvious he does not want Tony or LJ on his team. So who is winning the war? you or herm. How does it feel, after all you hard work for the last 20 years, to have herm turn it into a youth movement without a chance in hell of winning until after your contract is up?
due to a 3rd rounder now being a 2nd day pick, makes me wonder why that wasnt seen as fair value…he may retire and we get nothing, his attitude and Larry’s have brought down this team, even Waters hinted at such…
Losman and a 3rd would have been ideal…even losman and a 4th…oh well, a big wasted opportunity for a year where we need the picks, and Tony wants out…very sad we couldnt find a partner considering how much the lions got for Roy williams…
Alex, put down the Kool Aid man. Buffalo wasn’t going to give Losman away, not with Edwards coming off a concussion and that division up for grabs.
Having said that … why would ANY sensible GM keep a player around a locker room of impressionable young players who (a) doesn’t want to be here, (b) won’t be a contributing member when this team is good again, and (c) could have at least brought you something of value? Schefter on NFLN said the G-Men offered us a 4th rounder. I don’t pretend to know if that’s accurate or not … but really, short of 3 utterly insulting offers, there’s only one reason Tony G is still here.
S_ll T_ck_ts. Anyone wanna buy a vowel?
No Carl, what’s demeaning Tony G is having to finish his career under an offensive dolt like Herm Edwards, who BTW, has also done a great job at making the D worse than when he came. That’s what’s demeaning. For Tony G and for every Chief fan that devotes time, eneregy, and emotion to supporting this team that you and Herm have failed. For you to say you didn’t want to demean Tony G by trading him for less than your perceived value is both demeaning and insulting to Tony G and to Chief fans.
I don’t think Tony being here is selling that many tickets….not with the Chiefs losing big like they are. It’s the terrible play that will override any star on this team selling more tickets. As far as what Carl said….what reason do we have to believe he is not telling the truth and no team offered anything close to what Tony is worth? If that is not true it is easily found out so why make up a story just to look foolish later? I think Tony is big enough to come back and play his best and not be a burden to anyone.
Mark…..believe it or not…Carl is doing his job. He’s trying to get the best deal for the Chiefs. Sure he tried to help Tony…..but the Chiefs benefits outweigh Tony’s benefits. When nobody offers what is even close to fair in trade for Tony and you have Carl’s job, then you don’t make the trade. If you do then you have fans coming down on your head about how incompetent you are and how you should be gotten rid of. On the other hand if you say you don’t want to demean Tony G by trading him for less than what he is worth to the Chiefs you get fans like you saying that it is both demeaning and insulting to Tony G and to Chief fans. Carl’s job is a no-win scenario. I wouldn’t want it.
TG is a pro and will continue to play like one. The one thing that is the most important to him is his legacy and how he stacks up in NFL history. That is why he was/is so desperate for a superbowl ring, and that is why he will give full effort for his remaining time as a chief.
Also, I agree that it is obvious Herm really doesnt want any player on the team that either wasnt drafted by him or signed as a FA while he has been there. He wants players that are fully loyal to him more than the kansas city chiefs.
Harold C is dead on! I do think ticket sales would dip if Tony was traded, but not as drastically as continued bad play.
findthedr, after listening to Herm’s press conference today (twice) I am now convinced that he needs to go at the end of this season. I was willing to wait to see if we made any improvments but I think anything short of six wins by year’s end should end Herm’s tenure. You are right, he doesn’t want anything to do with players that he himself didn’t bring in. That’s why Jared Allen and Kawika Mitchell are not here anymore.
Harold, Carl was actually in a no lose situation And he still lost. Tony gave him an easy out for accepting less than what Carl perceived his worth(And a 2 and a 5 is NOT his worth, that’s a player 5 years his junior’s worth, even if not as good as Tony). He would have come off looking good, for one of the few times, by accomadating Tony G’s request, taking less than his worth, but doing it because Tony G has earned the consideration as an all time great player and Chief. The vast majority of Chief fans understand that Tony has earned that chance to escape Herm and win before he’s done. They wouldn’t have been upset with Carl for only getting a 4th, for instance. Quite the contrary. But as usual, Carl blew it by being the hardbutt he revels in being. I would have rather he be a hardbutt with Napoleon Harris’s or Damion McIntosh’s agent, and laughed in their face when they requested the contracts they got, then hold an all time Chief here in order to not “demean” him.
FTD and Colby,
I have to disagree with you. Herm sure spoke highly of Brian Waters. It sounds like he loves having him around…and I don’t think he brought him here.
I think Carl missed the boat on this one.
Tony G will finish the year playing like he always does, as a Pro.
But bet your sweet a** come the end of the year, Tony retires do to the miss treatment he must feel from not getting the record the way he wanted to and then the no trade for ANY VALUE. If he was selfish as some of you have stated then why would he himself go to the powers that be and advise them “look get what you can for me now while I’m still worth something for your rebuilding of this team that needs all the draft picks it can get,”Âť you have a young replacement for him already now in house. Tony staying isn’t going to make any difference either way, if anything may hurt the Chiefs in the long run ie: more wins lower rank in the draft, same loses and when he retires what do we get????????????
Notta, not sh*t just poop marks in Carl’s shorts!
I’m confused as to why fans think Carl and the Chiefs “owe” Gonzalez the right to go play for a contender.
1) The Chiefs have helped create Gonzalez into the name that he is. The Chiefs are probably the ONLY team that would have built their passing game around the tight end enabling him to break the records he’s broken.
2) The Chiefs have made him the highest paid tightend in the HISTORY of the game for the past several years.
3) In Tony’s tenure the Chiefs have been 13-3 twice and made it to the playoffs in another year. In all 3 of those games Tony did not make some plays he should have made. He had drops in both Indy games (and one of those games was winnable with more scoring drive) and he failed to get his feet down in the endzone against Denver that would have won the game.
4) If Tony and his agent refused to restructure his deal so a team could accomodate his cap hit or because he didn’t want to go THAT particular team, then he has nothing to cry about….ala Greg Wesley.
BlakeB,
Brian Waters has been alot of talk, and a lot less action the last couple years. He made promises last year that the chiefs were a playoff team and challenged the media that if he was wrong he would shut up. He still hasnt kept his word.
On most teams there is a self imposed policy by lineman not to talk to the media. In KC, during the vermiel years, they used to even have a penalty jar that lineman would penalize each other for talking to the media (remember this was all done by the lineman and not forced by the coaches). Waters likes the attention, and has even made assertions about the line this year.
He needs to let his play on the field speak for him. TGs play and effort has been outstanding the last couple years in particular, and the same cant be said about Waters who really hasnt looked like a probowl LG without Willie Roaf next to him.
You HAVE to give it to Carl on this one. You can’t take less than Shockey, you can’t hurt your struggling, young football team, and you can’t bend over backwards for a primadonna player’s demands.
You simply do what’s best for the team, and Carl did that.
I continue to think that Carl Peterson, though he has made mistakes in the past, is not the big problem in Kansas City. As much as I think I’d like to play for Herman Edwards, I feel he is extremely outcoached. I do feel, that with the youth on this team, that he should be given the rest of this season to show progress. If so, allow him to work through the draft and continue this rebuild. If no improvement is shown, it will be apparent that Edwards is not the right man for this job and a change will need to be made.
It will be an interesting rest of the season.
Colby you and others are starting to talk the talk. Herm may be a head coach type but he is not the man for the KC Chiefs rebuild. I doubt carl should here either. This rebuild will be successful if clark hunt makes the right choices.
The Tony saga is over. So get over it.
FTD,
I’d agree with everything that you said in your post addressed to me. My point, however, was that throughout the year it has sounded to me like Herm likes Waters and wants to keep veterans like him around. This is contrary to your (and others) theory that Herm wants to get rid of any player that he didn’t bring in via draft or free agency.
It seems to me that LJ and TG are doing some things to bring attention to themselves or to the team in only a negative way. I think that might be a reason why Herm sounds so frustrated with them. Personally, I respect that. I think all Chiefs fans should respect that…even if you’re not a Herm fan.