Tony Gonzalez has made peace with plenty of what-ifs, but one still lingers: turning down Tom Brady. After retiring in 2013, Brady reportedly pitched him one final run with the New England Patriots. Gonzalez said no. Years later, he’s admitting the answer might have been different.

“Tom Brady called me up, said, come throw with me,” Tony Gonzalez said on The Rich Eisen Show. “And, he’s a friend of mine anyway, so I was like, Oh, yeah. I thought I was doing him a favor. We went out there to throw the ball around. I get there there’s nobody else there except me.

“And then at the end of it he was like, ‘Hey, you think you can still play?’ He gave me the pitch, but I obviously, I said no, which, looking back, it was probably the stupidest thing I ever did. Because I think they won the Super Bowl that year. But yeah, I had the chance. I did not take it.”

Kansas City took Tony Gonzalez 13th overall back in the 1997 draft, and what followed was a successful 17-season stint. He suited up for 270 regular-season games and started in 254, split between the Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons, becoming a 14-time Pro Bowler.

By the time he hung it up, he owned the NFL records for tight ends in nearly every category: 1,325 catches, 15,127 receiving yards, 111 touchdowns, and 30 games with at least 100 yards receiving. His Kansas City numbers alone (916 receptions, 10,940 yards, 76 touchdowns) still stand as the best any Chiefs player has ever put up in those categories.

He officially called it a career in December 2013. But even with so much success, a Super Bowl ring never came his way. And that absence clearly sat with him, because not long after retiring, he admitted the itch to come back was real if the right opportunity came.

“The temptation would be there, but I don’t know what the gain would be,” Gonzalez told Newsday in 2014. “I’ve always wanted a ring. That’s been my main goal as a player over the last 15 years of my career. You’re really trying to get that ultimate goal.

“But I’d be a mercenary to come in and get a Super Bowl ring, play with a team for, what, six, seven weeks? And even if I got the ring, it wouldn’t be the same as going through the fight with the team from the beginning to the end.”

Had he known Brady’s offer would come by, he might have had a different perspective. Gonzalez would probably have to settle for less time if he said yes, because the Patriots already had a solid tight end in Rob Gronkowski. But if he had said yes, Brady would have had two of the best tight ends of that time in his arsenal.