Atlanta Falcons giving Tony Gonzalez time off
By Mike Dyce
The Atlanta Falcons have given Tony Gonzalez the Brett Favre training camp schedule. At 37 years old, and entering his 17th NFL season, his body probably doesn’t want to be subjected to the early training camp rigors. Gonzalez is always in peak physical condition so his conditioning isn’t a worry or issue. Gonzalez hasn’t missed a game since 2006.
“Tony is gone. Again, I don’t want to get into details,” head coach Mike Smith said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “His son is starting football this week. It’s his first season of tackle football and he’s going to be with him.”
“Our plan is that Tony will be missing the first preseason game but he will play in the last two preseason games. That’s an update and I don’t want to be having a Tony Gonzalez update moving forward, but that’s where we’re at right now. We knew this ahead of time. Not to rehash it but Tony had made these commitments to his family prior to deciding to come back and play. When Tony can be here, he is going to be here and be a part of it and I think that was very evident by him being here for the first three days of practice.”