Getty ImagesFalcons quarterback Matt Ryan is all healed up after injuring his left shoulder in the NFC Championship Game, but the question of whether or not he’ll be throwing passes to tight end Tony Gonzalez next year remains unanswered.
Coach Mike Smith talked about Gonzalez as well as Ryan on Wednesday and his update on the situation was that there is no update on the situation. Gonzalez still hasn’t given the Falcons word on his plans for 2013 and Smith said that the team is in no particular rush to get one from the most prolific pass-catching tight end in NFL history.
“I don’t that there (sic) is anything concrete in terms of a timetable,” Smith said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But I think that conversation will take place. I had a conversation with him the week after the season and we’ll probably have another here real soon.”
Smith said that the team doesn’t need a decision before the draft because they will be doing their “due diligence” on players from all position which suggests they’d select a tight end of interest regardless of Gonzalez’s choice. That’s surely true, but it’s hard to believe that knowing whether or not Gonzalez is going to be back will have no impact on what the team does in the coming months.
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He is gonzo.
Stop with the “due diligence” nonsense. You guys are bleeping football scouts, not research scientists.
In other words, they want him to stay but may go ahead and draft his replacement in April, …..that certainly would be an incentive for him to return.
They’re being courteous. They undoubtedly want to know before the draft.