The Atlanta Falcons didn't trade tight end Tony Gonzalez before Tuesday's trade deadline, despite a poor start to the season. General manager Thomas Dimitroff explained his decision to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and described his general philosophy on in-season trades.
Tony Gonzalez trade: Falcons explain why they didn’t shop TE
Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff explained why he doesn’t always do in-season trades.
Norm Hall
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In a nutshell, Dimitroff won’t do trades during the season if he feels the player doesn’t fit the team scheme, or if compensation is an issue. He also doesn’t believe in throwing in the towel midseason, no matter the team’s record.
“As an organization we have three reasons why we do not believe in in-season trades,” Dimitroff said. “There is often times a reason why some players are available via trade in-season, and that does not always fit with our team-building philosophy.
The second reason has to do with scheme-fit and the ability to pick up the system in time to contribute during that season. The final piece in trades involves compensation, and that is something that we are always very mindful of.”
Trade rumors swirled around Gonzalez with the Falcons falling out of the playoff race. His old team, the Kansas City Chiefs, was a popular target of these rumors, but Dimitroff would not budge on a deal. Gonzalez came back for one more season attempting to make the Super Bowl for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. The Falcons haven't lived up to those expectations, falling to 2-5 as injuries decimated the team on both sides of the ball.
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