chris98251":3pcpawen said:
His excellence was in the refs looking the other way when he pushed off to make a lot of his catches.
There were many TE's better then him that played in much tougher circumstances, plus he was injured all the time so his durability may count against him.
Note to a lot of people here, there was football before this millennium.
Yes, I know there were great tight ends before this century. Newsome, Winslow, Ditka, Christiansen, and Sharpe all come to mind. However, there is no denying that Gonzalez redefined the position. He was the first big basketball player to come in and be primarily a pass catcher instead of a blocker. He finished his career as the 2nd all-time leading pass catcher. Not for tight ends, but for the ENTIRE league. Only Jerry Rice ever caught more passes (though Fitzgerald will pass him in 2019 barring injury). Think about that. He has more catches than Marvin Harrison, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Terrell Owens, Anquan Boldin, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, or Isaac Bruce, and not by a little. He has 224 more catches than Marvin Harrison, who was #2 when he retired.
Yes, football was around for 70+ years before Tony Gonzalez suited up, but he is the greatest TE of all time. Period.