Top 5 Reasons Tony Gonzalez Should Have Been Traded

Raptor here, hating on Carl Peterson.

When I was but a wee raptorling, my dad was stationed in Ft Leavenworth, KS. Between blissful jaunts to the banks of the Missouri river and soccer practice, a funny thing happened. I started to like sports.

How’d this happen? Strangely enough because a MP stopped me one day as I was playing tag in the cul-de-sac. Instead of getting into trouble for playing in the street he handed us some Kansas City Chiefs Cards. It had QB Stephen DeBerg on it. My friend got a card with some loser named Neil Smith. None of these names really meant anything to me at the time, but the cards appealed to the pack rat part of me. I started researching what this football thing was. It took a little while, because the rules and frequent breaks made for uneven watching as an 8 year old, but eventually I was hooked. I began pestering MPs for more of these Chiefs cards eventually coming 1 card short of completing the set (My friend would never trade me his Neil Smith card). The football cards eventually got me down the path of baseball cards, which then got me into lovin the Royals.

Military brats move frequently, but there allegiances don’t. I carried my newly acquired love for the Chiefs and to a lesser extent the Royals with me wherever I went. The early 90’s were a great time to be a KC sports fan. The Royals were still competitive and the Chiefs behind the brain trust of Marty Schottenheimer and Carl Peterson kept winning and moving tantalizingly closer to ultimate playoff glory. Because they were good it was relatively easy to find games on the weekends and to keep tabs on them no matter where we moved. Sadly, this wouldn’t last forever.

The Royal’s never really recovered from losing Bo Jackson and were bought by an owner who cared more about the bottom line then winning. They started sliding further and further down the standings each year, and further and further back into the sports page. The Chiefs fared a little better. They remained competitive through out the 90’s, with DT and some killer defenses and their varied array of quarterbacks. But after one too many playoff flops, the eternally snake bitten Schottenheimer was fired. Then came the bleakest moment in my Chief fan existence, the death of Derrick Thomas.

Time and Teams go on. My hopes were buoyed by a high octane offense installed by the innovator of the fastest show on turf, Dick Vermeil. We made up for a lack of a great wide out by having perhaps the most dynamic tight end in the game, Tony Gonzalez. He’s been one of my favorite players to watch in the post-DT era. He always showed up on game day and always gave it his all doing whatever he could to help the team. He’s done it for 12 seasons now.

But everybody has there breaking point. After 12 seasons he’s starting to feel the clock ticking. He’s still an elite if not the elite TE in the game, but his time is running out. KC is mired in a rebuilding year, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. So 3 weeks ago he secretly asked for a trade.

The trade deadline has come and gone, and Gonzo is still with the team. Which is somewhat bittersweet for me as a fan. He should be out there catching passes from Eli or McNabb this weekend, not hoping for Herm to call his number.


5. Because the Chiefs are rebuilding

The Herm Edwards Era has been nothing short of horrendous. He took a high flying fast offense, and slowed it down to a grind it out, leading to the breakdown of its most talented players. He broke down one promising and still young running back by rushing him 416 times during a season. He’s forced the Chiefs to go into what seems like a never ending rebuilding stage. The team won’t be competitive for some time now. We lack a solid line and a quarterback (please don’t make me hope for John Kitna). And somewhere lost in the midst of all this is our spectacular TE, Tony Gonzalez.

4. Because he’s not being utilized properly

Herm couldn’t come up with a passing scheme to save his life, and even if he could there is no one on the roster who could pull it off anyways. I’m completely convinced he would run Larry Johnson every down if he could get away with it.

Tony needs someone to chuck him the ball. He’s mostly wasted as a runblocker.

3. Because his trade value is only going down

Yea so the Giants lowballed you with the offer of a third round pick. What did you think you were going to get? I know the Giants got a second and a fifth for Shockey, but he’s young, overrated, and they were dealing with the Saints a franchise not exactly known for there smarts. TG’s getting up there in age. You’re not going to get the same value for him. Besides, Peterson you do seem to have a fairly good grasp of garnering good value on your draft picks (Alabama QBs aside).

2. Because Herm Edwards dicked him and the fans of Kansas City

In this year’s win against Denver, KC was up big on the Broncos and for the majority for the final quarter just tried to run out the time with running plays. Again lost in the Herm shuffle, Gonzo was 3 yards short of the Career record for receiving yards by a TE in the Denver game. Post game interviews had Edwards saying he was unaware of this fact (which might not be too shocking with how unaware he is about most things). All he needed was a quick 1 yard out and to fall forward and the KC stat-keepers would have given him the record in front of his home crowd.

Isn’t that how you want to break a record? At home, in front of your fans and family, in a win against your hated (Fuck the Broncos!) rival?

Instead he had to break the record on the road in a blow out loss to the Panthers depriving him and the fans there moment to celebrate together. *


1. Because it was the right thing to do

Look there’s a lot of a-holes in sports demanding trades. Chad Johnson does it every year. He’s a d-bag prima donna. Tony isn’t. He didn’t’ go to the media with this request he did it behind closed doors. He’s not going to sit around and pout because this trade didn’t happen. He’s still going to go out there and give it his all.

He knows he’s a big part of Chief lore. He broke records here. He had a great run here. He wants to come back and retire a Chief. He just needs to go make a last grab at a ring.

Carl should have given the chance.

*To those who argue that the chiefs needed to run out the clock I say: Don’t be afraid of losing the ball. The man’s lost only one fumble in the past 7 years. He’s got some of the strongest hands in the league. Sack up and give the fans what they want.