Packers Also offered a 3rd Rounder

[Bill Lundberg]

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=806267

Bid to land Gonzalez falls short
Chiefs were willing to deal star tight end for second-round pick
By BOB McGINN
bmcginn@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 15, 2008
Green Bay - The Green Bay Packers could have acquired tight end Tony Gonzalez from the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday but they refused to part with a second-round draft choice.

A source familiar with negotiations told the Journal Sentinel that Chiefs President Carl Peterson ultimately decided to retain Gonzalez after turning down the best offer from Green Bay, which was a third-round selection. The source said Peterson wanted a second-rounder to make the deal.

The decision by general manager Ted Thompson not to send the second-round pick to Kansas City was made just minutes before the National Football League trading deadline of 3 p.m.

During a day of talks between Green Bay and Kansas City, the Packers increased their compensation offer several times. A source said Gonzalez had told the Chiefs that he would accept a trade to the Packers, and planned to play three more seasons.

This was another example of Thompson’s unwillingness to pull the trigger on a blockbuster trade to obtain another weapon on offense.
In 2006, Thompson had the chance to send a high draft choice to San Diego Chargers for running back Michael Turner.

A year later, Thompson didn’t push hard enough to get wide receiver Randy Moss under contract and watched the New England Patriots acquire him from the Oakland Raiders for a fourth-round selection.

Adam Schefter of the NFL Network reported that Philadelphia, the New York Giants and Buffalo also were negotiating with the Chiefs. He reported that one team offered a third-round pick, another team offered a fourth-round pick and another team offered an unidentified choice plus a player.

An NFL source told the Journal Sentinel that the Bills weren’t a factor because Gonzalez didn’t want to play for them.

According to the source, Gonzalez was livid that the rebuilding Chiefs (1-4), for whom he has caught tight-end record totals of 841 passes for 10,075 yards and 68 touchdowns, refused to let him go for a third-round pick.

Gonzalez, who made the Pro Bowl for a record ninth straight time last season, was highly regarded by coach Mike McCarthy and several members of his staff in Green Bay.

McCarthy coached quarterbacks in Kansas City in 1997 and ’98, Gonzalez’s first two seasons there. Several of his coaches, including Tom Clements, Mike Stock, Carl Hairston and Kurt Schottenheimer, also spent time in Kansas City during Gonzalez’s career, as did vice president Russ Ball and personnel director John Schneider.

As it stands now, the Packers will have their seven choices in the 2009 draft plus a sixth-round pick from New Orleans and no worse than a fourth-round pick from the New York Jets in the trade for Brett Favre.

The compensation for Favre reportedly will increase to a third if Favre plays at least 50% of the snaps, and to a second if he plays at least 70% and the Jets reach the playoffs.

If the trade with Green Bay had been consummated, the Packers would have picked up the final 3½ years of Gonzalez’s contract, or a total amount of $19.397 million.

This year, Green Bay would have had to pay 11/17ths of his guaranteed $1 million base salary, or $647,059. His contract included base salaries of $4 million in 2009 (all guaranteed), $4.5 million in 2010 ($1.75 million guaranteed) and $5.75 million in 2011, and roster bonuses of $500,000 in ’09, $2 million in ’10 and $2 million in ’11.

The Packers currently stand $20.05 million beneath the salary cap, a total exceeded by only Tampa Bay and Kansas City among the 32 teams.

By adding Gonzalez, the Packers’ weapons on offense would have compared favorably with any team in the NFL. His ability to make clutch possession catches and stretch the field was evident last season in Week 8, when he caught 10 passes for 109 yards and one touchdown against Green Bay.

Gonzalez recently requested a trade from the Chiefs because he wanted the chance to play for a playoff contender.

“I’m winding down in my career and I’m thinking this is not what I signed on for last year when I redid my deal,” Gonzalez said in August. “I haven’t even won a playoff game. You can look back and say you had a pretty good career, but I want to be able to say I went to the playoffs, I won some playoff games and I went to the Super Bowl.”

The Packers signed tight end Donald Lee to a four-year, $11.88 million deal last November when he was an integral part of their passing game. But Lee has been less involved with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.

Tory Humphrey is the No. 2 tight end and rookie Jermichael Finley, a third-round draft choice, is No. 3. Finley has been slow to develop and doesn’t have a reception.

Under Thompson, the Packers have drafted eight players in the second round. The list include Nick Collins, Terrence Murphy, Daryn Colledge, Greg Jennings, Brandon Jackson, Jordy Nelson, Brian Brohm and Pat Lee.

Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by philfree

I agree 100%.

Tony is a great player who is playing out his hall of fame career on the rebuilding Chiefs. He's given his all his whole career. For one moment Herm could have given a little back to show his appreciation for what Tony is doing on the POS team. Herm couldn't do that though and Tony felt jilted so he asked to be traded. Too bad! So sad!

PhilFree

Herm is not a Chief at heart, period.

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by Bill Lundberg

McCarthy coached quarterbacks in Kansas City in 1997 and ’98, Gonzalez’s first two seasons there. Several of his coaches, including Tom Clements, Mike Stock, Carl Hairston and Kurt Schottenheimer, also spent time in Kansas City during Gonzalez’s career.

MIKE STOCK?!!!......... KURT F*****G SCHOTTENHEIMER?!!!..... How is it they are still employed by the NFL?!

[FAX]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Herm is not a Chief at heart, period.

Exactly so. He's a Buc or a Jet or some kind of demonic being sent here from Hell to drive us completely insane to the point we'd be willing to sell our souls for Marty to come back.

FAX

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by Bill Lundberg

A source familiar with negotiations told the Journal Sentinel that Chiefs President Carl Peterson ultimately decided to retain Gonzalez after turning down the best offer from Green Bay, which was a third-round selection. The source said Peterson wanted a second-rounder to make the deal.

The decision by general manager Ted Thompson not to send the second-round pick to Kansas City was made just minutes before the National Football League trading deadline of 3 p.m.

I am with Carl on this one. A 9 year pro-bowl TE with a good 3 years in his tank is worth at least a late 2nd.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Frankie

I am with Carl on this one. A 9 year pro-bowl TE with a good 3 years in his tank is worth at least a late 2nd.

And the NFL teams interested just essentially told you and Carl that you must be ****ing high.

[ChiefsCountry]

And Tony vetos going someplace.......funny how that is always missing from these articles.

[triple]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

And Tony vetos going someplace.......funny how that is always missing from these articles.

A source said Gonzalez had told the Chiefs that he would accept a trade to the Packers, and planned to play three more seasons.

[PastorMikH]

If Tony is willing to play 3 more years as he told the Packers, why not be patient here? Unless he has absolutely no faith in Herm's plan that is. 2011 should be more than enough time for this groupl of players to mature and make a run.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by FAX

Exactly so. He's a Buc or a Jet or some kind of demonic being sent here from Hell to drive us completely insane to the point we'd be willing to sell our souls for Marty to come back.

FAX

Kind of scary when you put it that way.

[HC_Chief]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

If Tony is willing to play 3 more years as he told the Packers, why not be patient here? Unless he has absolutely no faith in Herm's plan that is. 2011 should be more than enough time for this groupl of players to mature and make a run.

Packers have a QB, a semi-competent defense, and a coaching staff/front office not suffering from a sever case of rectal-cranial inversion.

[philfree]

Originally Posted by milkman

And the NFL teams interested just essentially told you and Carl that you must be ****ing high.

I think they said they're cheap ass mo fo's and they'd love to have Gonzo but only if they can steal him.

PhilFree

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

Unless he has absolutely no faith in Herm's plan that is.

It sounds like he is not the only one sour on Herm and his "plan." It has been my experience, you need to earn the respect of your men, to get them to follow you and give unconditional commitment.

Do you really think Herm has earned ANYONE'S respect, enough to follow him?

Sure the rookies and marginal players are going to, they have to in order to keep a spot in the NFL.

But the Stars? Nope, it started with Trent Green, he saw through Herm right away. Tony has basically had his fill of Herm the way I see it.
Is Lj the same way?

[philfree]

Originally Posted by PastorMikH

If Tony is willing to play 3 more years as he told the Packers, why not be patient here? Unless he has absolutely no faith in Herm's plan that is. 2011 should be more than enough time for this groupl of players to mature and make a run.

It's trade Tony in the offseason or put the Chiefs in a situation to be competetive next year. To do that we have to bring in a few free agents and a free agent QB. Things I think we should do next year anyway IMO. I'm not saying abandon the rebuild but we gotta have a QB and we gotta have a line to block for him. We can still draft a QB though.

PhilFree

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

It sounds like he is not the only one sour on Herm and his "plan." It has been my experience, you need to earn the respect of your men, to get them to follow you and give unconditional commitment.

Do you really think Herm has earned ANYONE'S respect, enough to follow him?

Sure the rookies and marginal players are going to, they have to in order to keep a spot in the NFL.

But the Stars? Nope, it started with Trent Green, he saw through Herm right away. Tony has basically had his fill of Herm the way I see it.
Is Lj the same way?

No, I don't think Herm has any of the veteran respect outside of maybe Waters.

I thought it was pretty clear yesterday in the interview the way Herm reacted when asked about what it says about the organization when TG asks to be traded. He got really defensive. There is unrest between players and Herm or he wouldn't have acted that way.

Also, on the press conference yesterday, what does it say about a HC that doesn't at least communicate with his best players? He hasn't talked with LJ about the off-the-field problems that might affect him playing? He hasn't talked with Tony about Tony's wanting to be traded?


Herm's more lost than Gunther was as HC.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by philfree

I think they said they're cheap ass mo fo's and they'd love to have Gonzo but only if they can steal him.

PhilFree

No.

It was fair market value.