Chiefs pull rug out from Gonzalez-to-Green Bay deal
[img_r]http://cdntn.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2008/10/15/88358_thumb.jpg[/img_r]GREEN BAY The Green Bay Packers thought they had a done deal to trade for nine-time Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez, only to have the rug pulled out from under them by the Kansas City Chiefs minutes before the trading deadline Tuesday when Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson raised the asking price.
According to two NFL sources familiar with the negotiations, the Packers had drawn up the trade paperwork and sent it to the Chiefs to finalize the deal a third-round pick for Gonzalez only to have the Chiefs call them 10 minutes before the deadline to say it would take a second-round pick to get the deal done.
The Chiefs ended up keeping Gonzalez, who is now angry a deal didn't get done.
Packers general manager Ted Thompson was traveling on a scouting trip Wednesday and could not be reached, administrative assistant Jeanne Bruette said.
But both NFL sources confirmed the Packers thought they had a deal. One source also said Gonzalez wanted to play for the Packers more than the other teams in the bidding.
The Packers "sent the papers and everything, thinking it was going to happen," the source said.
According to the source, the Packers, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles all made offers the Giants offering a fourth-round pick, the Eagles and Packers offering third-rounders. The source said the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills made better offers but Gonzalez wasn't interested in playing for either team.
The Chiefs' initial asking price was a second- and fifth-round pick, which is what the New Orleans Saints gave the Giants for tight end Jeremy Shockey eariler this year.
The Packers, who are roughly $20 million below the salary cap, would have been responsible for 11/17ths of Gonzalez's $1 million base salary ($647,058.81) this year. Gonzalez has said he wants to play three more years, and his base salaries are $4 million in 2009, $4.5 million in '10 and $5.75 million in '11.
Gonzalez, who holds the NFL record for receptions (841), yards (10,075) and touchdowns (68) by a tight end, told FoxSports.com that he felt Peterson betrayed him.
"I'm shocked. It didn't make sense not to do this deal," the 32-year-old Gonzalez said. "It's winding down for me and this team is rebuilding. If they said from the get-go, 'No, we're not going to trade you,' that would've been better than how this whole thing unfolded. But that's not what happened.
"(Monday) night I talked to Carl and I point-blank asked him what it would take to get it done. I wanted to know if it could happen with a fourth. He started talking about a second and a fifth like the Shockey deal. Nobody is going to trade a second for a 32-year-old tight end. All along Carl said he would do something that works for both parties. Then he talked about how he traded a third for Willie Roaf and he made it pretty clear to me that's what was going to get it done. That was certainly fair."
Gonzalez's understanding of how the deal was nixed also jibes with what the two NFL sources said.
"I know teams offered a third and in the end, Carl made the asking price a second," Gonzalez said. "I'm very disappointed that he didn't go through with it after he told me he was going to try to make it happen. I've been around this league a long time, it's a business. There's nothing I can do about it. I was (expletive) off about it but I'll get over it. I won't let it affect my play and my preparation."
On Wednesday, Gonzalez held a players-only meeting with his teammates to tell them he is about "being the best football player you can be no matter what the situation is." Peterson, meanwhile, told an Associated Press reporter in Kansas City that no team had "come close" to any reasonable offer, and Peterson made it sound as if he never wanted to trade Gonzalez in the first place.
"I was with (owner) Clark Hunt through this whole thing and we didn't have any offer that would match the value of losing Tony Gonzalez," Peterson told AP. "He may have a different opinion of his value. But we value him very, very highly. (And) we didn't get anything close to what was appropriate. I didn't really expect to. But I respected his request to see if there were teams that were interested and ones he had an interest in."
The Packers definitely had interest. Coach Mike McCarthy was with the Chiefs as quarterbacks coach in 1997 and '98, Gonzalez's first two NFL seasons, and assistant coaches Tom Clements, Mike Stock, Carl Hairston and Kurt Schottenheimer, negotiator Russ Ball and director of football operations John Schneider, the point-man on the trade talks, all worked in Kansas City during Gonzalez's time there.
Asked about the deal falling through, McCarthy didn't sound pleased.
"Tony Gonzalez, he's an excellent player. I think his continuing career at Kansas City speaks for itself," McCarthy said. "We've talked about this all of the time player acquisitions, I don't speak on those terms. I have great confidence in our personnel department and the process and the decision-making that goes into that. There is a lot of conversation that goes on, and I know the significance of (Tuesday) being the trade deadline and so forth, but that's all I've got to say about that."
Asked if he had more input because he coached Gonzalez, McCarthy said simply, "I have an opinion in the building."