You won’t find a much better perspective -- or stronger commentary -- on Jimmy Graham's contract negotiations with the New Orleans Saints than the column Tony Gonzalez wrote for CBSSports.com.
Gonzalez is arguably the greatest tight end in NFL history, and he was the same kind of hybrid receiver/tight end that Graham is now. Gonzalez agreed that Graham is not, in fact, a wide receiver. And Gonzalez even suggested a great term for their shared role: “Tighty Widey.”
On a much more serious note, however, Gonzalez expressed his own past frustrations with how tight ends get shortchanged when it comes to contract negotiations – even going so far as to label it as “discrimination.”
Gonzalez went into detail about his past contract negotiations with the Kansas City Chiefs, who twice made him the highest-paid tight end in NFL history. Gonzalez said that of course he was thrilled with both deals. But at the same time, he said he was frustrated with how he was always paid according to his roster position instead of his actual production.
“The Chiefs' GM at the time was Carl Peterson, and his battle cry during the lengthy negotiation was, ‘you're not a receiver so I can't pay you like one,’” Gonzalez wrote. “It didn't seem fair that no matter how many passes I caught or how many touchdowns I scored, I was considered a ‘lowly tight end’ and would never be paid anywhere close to a salary as high as the elite wide receivers.”
Gonzalez argued that the NFL is the only major professional sports league that slots players' salaries by position. And he said changing the system should be a top priority for the NFL Players Association going forward.
“I can think of a few terms to describe what's going on in the NFL like ‘backward,’ ‘lack of common sense’ or ‘behind the times’ but the one that makes the most sense is ‘discrimination,’” Gonzalez wrote. “Salaries should be set based on production and contributions, not positions.”