Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt said that retired tight end Tony Gonzalez will “always be considered a part of the Chiefs family.” After spending the first 12 seasons of his career with Kansas City, he was traded to Atlanta in 2009. During his final game against Carolina on Sunday, Gonzalez was presented with a half Chiefs, half Falcons helmet. He considered retiring after last season, but the Falcons were close to making the Super Bowl, that Gonzalez decided to come back for one more season.
“Obviously it just wasn’t in my cards (on winning a playoff game) and I’m OK with that, honestly,” said Gonzalez.
The Chiefs made the playoffs just three times during his time in Kansas City. Each time, they lost their first game, twice losing in the divisional round and once during a wild card matchup. Hunt released a statement on Monday saying, “What he was able to accomplish during his time in the NFL is truly remarkable and I have no doubt that Tony is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
Gonzalez finished with 15,127 yards and 111 touchdowns. What’s even more remarkable is that in 16 of his 17 seasons as a starter, he played in every game except for two and started all of those games except three.
The pinnacle of his career came in 2004 when he had 102 catches for 1,258 yards.