Atlanta Falcons’ TE Tony Gonzalez won’t ‘jump ship’

Despite a 1-4 start in what is supposed to be his last season, Atlanta Falcons’ tight end Tony Gonzalez does not want out of the city.

In what would be a fairly standard procedure, some teams might trade an aging star in order to give him a chance to get to the playoffs or win a championship with another team.

But, according to ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure, the perennial All Pro tight end does not want to go – and isn’t giving up.

“I’m still happy as I can be to be a Falcon,” Gonzalez said. “I know there were trade rumors out there. I didn’t ask for a trade. That wasn’t me. I signed up, and this is the team that … I came back to play with these guys on the team. And I’m enjoying myself, win, lose or draw.

“Obviously I’d rather win. It makes it a lot more fun. But there is no way I would think about jumping ship because I love playing for this team, I love playing for this city.”

“I would never go and ask [the Falcons] for a trade,” Gonzalez said. “And if that’s something that they wanted to do to help their franchise, that’s up to them. But it wouldn’t be coming from me.

“Like I said, I came back to play with these guys. I have great relationships with these guys. … These guys are friends that I’ll call for the rest of my life. Like I said, I’m not going to jump ship. I’m not saying, ‘Things are bad around here, so I’m out of here.'”

Such an attitude is to be commended these days where so many players have a me’ first’ type of attitude.