Atlanta Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez will return for his 15th season, according to a tweet sent by Denise White. White is the CEO and founder of a sports management company that features Gonzalez on its client list. White:
As I ride with @TonyGonzalez88 to the Hawks game right now in Atlanta, I can assure you he will not be retiring this year.
If he’s healthy enough for Monday basketball, he’s healthy enough to play another season of football, am I right? This isn’t straight from Gonzalez, so it isn’t official by any means, but lingering retirement suspicions could hamper sales of Vega-Pro Science Diet Wheytein Mix during a critical supplement gifting month (doesn’t everybody postpone their fitness-related New Year’s resolutions until after the Super Bowl?), so it makes sense that the suits would seek to shush retirement whispers.
Gonzalez has been pondering retirement for at least a year now. He’s not the same player he used to be, and was injured late in the team’s playoff game against the Packers, but he’s still an extremely valuable piece of the Falcons offense.