If Tony Gonzalez decides to retire, it won't be for lack of effort from the Atlanta Falcons to change his mind. General manager Thomas Dimitroff has already been in the tight end's ear. Falcons receiver Roddy White is getting in the act, too.
White told ESPN's Chris Mortensen they'll employ the "Brett Favre strategy" to get Gonzalez back to Atlanta.
"Roddy White today revealed that they plan the Brett Favre strategy with the Vikings," Mortensen said, via Rotoworld.com. "Which is, go to California where Tony lives, recruit him, get him on a plane, and drag him back to Atlanta eventually."
It was during training camp in 2010 that the Vikings sent Steve Hutchinson, Ryan Longwell and Jared Allen to Hattiesburg, Miss. to convince Favre to play one more year. Minnesota had lost to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship in 2009.
The Falcons just lost to the San Francisco 49ersby four points in the NFC Championship and they want to run it back one more time with Gonzalez, White, Julio Jones and Matt Ryan.
If the strategy works, Atlanta hopes it plays out better with Gonzalez than it did for the Vikings, who went 6-10 and fired Brad Childress 10 games into Favre's final season.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
