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Falcons' Thomas Dimitroff Courting Tony Gonzalez

Will Tony Gonzalez retire? Despite the fact he has said he is 95 percent sure he'll retire, the Falcons are hoping he'll return for one more year.

Kevin C. Cox

I'm sure you're sick of the back-and-forth surrounding Tony Gonzalez's retirement. But guess what? There's more back-and-forth!

It appears that The Comrade has gone into recruitment mode.

Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff admitted Thursday he is lobbying hard to convince Gonzalez to return.

"A guy who is 36 (years old) catching 100-plus balls (including the postseason), it just doesn't seem like it's time for him to move on," Dimitroff told ESPN.com while visiting the Super Bowl media center.

He's lobbying Gonzo, eh? It's goooooooooood.

Now what does this mean for the franchise? It means that Dimitroff knows how hard it will be to replace Gonzo's production. You can believe in Chase Coffman, Michael Palmer, Harry Douglas, or Santa Clause all you want - fact are facts. And the fact is that replacing Gonzo is a bit of a crap shoot. Simply stated, there are no guarantees.

Bringing back Gonzo, on the other hand, is a guarantee of sorts. It's a guarantee of substantially similar production.

Your thoughts?