It's a big weekend for former Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend in Canton Ohio which means a lot of his former coaches and teammates are signing his praises.
Falcons former tight end coach Mike Mularkey was Gonzelez's offensive coordinator in Atlanta from 2009-11 and was always impressed with the Hall of Famer, especially with his routes.
“He did a lot of things for our team, our offense. I'm proud of what he did. Great player who showed up every Sunday. He made the plays.” Mularkey pointed to one specific about Gonzalez's route-running via ESPN. “You didn't know where the breakpoint was. There was no indication that he was going to come out of the break. It was just a suddenness.”
Gonzalez was the 13th overall pick in the 1997 draft and actually got off to a pretty average start to his career catching only four touchdowns and racking up 989 yards. In his third season, he started to take off and was named to the first of his 14 Pro Bowl selections, and this is when making the Pro Bowl actually meant something.
Not only was Gonzalez a good route runner and an elite receiver he also really improved his blocking as the years went on and that is something that can't always be said about receiving tight ends.
During his career, Gonzalez racked up 15,127 yards and 111 touchdowns, and there can be a strong argument made that he is the greatest tight end of all time.
