Thursday ThinkTank: Now That He, Too, Has Left the Building

About a week ago, when the Tony Gonzalez-to-Atlanta trade rumors surfaced, I was a little nervous. But nothing happened, and I was fine with it. Until yesterday. Then the Philadelphia Eagles allegedly dove into the mix, and I was worried again. Not because I thought the Chiefs would ship Tony to Philly, but because I saw they were offering a third-round pick, and that made me feel that within 48 hours of the 2009 NFL Draft's commencement, this is when the stuff can go down for real, especially if one team's genuinely interested, and then another puts its ante in the pot.

Well, as everyone knows by now, the Chiefs sent Tony Gonzalez to the Atlanta Falcons for a second-round pick in 2010's draft. It's a done deal and I've had just over five hours to let it sink in. And for the most part, it has. Naturally, it'll be new all over again when you see four-letter highlights of him at training camp, and regular season footage of him as a Dirty Bird. But it's for real, and we must move on.

It's a bittersweet deal in the end, mostly because of the most microscopic, surreal pipedream of Tony Gonzalez retiring as a Chief and winning a Super Bowl was probably never going to happen. Now, the new regime of Scott Pioli and Todd Haley could very well get this club turned around and, amongst the outer-most moons of Neptune, Gonzalez could come back to K.C. for one final hurrah of a season, and they could win it all. But it's a pipedream.

Closer to the sun than the distant Milky Way, it's sliced clean into two sides: the business and the personal. I've never been secretive about Gonzalez being my favorite Chief. He was more than that, though. He was the proverbial face of the franchise, the go-to-guy, the clutch performer, the hero. Now, he, like any player, is one of many cogs in a machine working toward one goal. And well, this machine has been shy a handful of cogs for a long time. So you make some replacements. I just knew it was a bad idea to ask for my first-ever Gonzalez jersey for Christmas last year.

In the business end of things, it appears that Pioli means just that: business. He's gonna go out, make some transactions, all in the name of bettering the machine, and hopefully, he'll have a great draft, too. Essentially, the Chiefs were already going to have a second-rounder in 2010. So they give up 2009's and get a quarterback who could have a solid decade in him. Add to that some veteran linebacker leadership in Mike Vrabel. Then, you unload Tony and get another second-round pick, so in a sense, it's as if you've traded a 32 year-old tight end for some defensive help, and perhaps a franchise quarterback, which ain't that bad of a deal.

Yes, it'd've been nice to get some help in this year's draft, but I think you simply have to take the second-rounder for Gonzalez, no matter what. As the outsiders that we all are, it appears that that was the only second-round pick -- the price the Chiefs have asked for all along -- that has been offered since last October. It might've been the only one offered, so you take it. I imagine Pioli's dealings aren't yet done for this upcoming season, and it almost promises to be an awesome draft weekend, and a great summer of free agency.

At least that's what I'm hoping for.

So to Tony Gonzalez -- an official House of Georges salute for your service, your commitment to being the best, and your highly admirable performances in all regards.



ChiefsNation will miss you, sir.

(photos courtesy of the Kansas City Star)