‘NCIS’ season 12 spoilers: NFL great Tony Gonzales to guest star

How about this for a guest-starring role that we never saw coming? Legendary NFL tight end Tony Gonzales has lined up a nice post-retirement gig for himself, as he will be appearing on at least one upcoming episode of “NCIS” season 12.

It was none other than Gonzales himself who confirmed the news with the post below on Instagram, where he also attached the following caption:

“Guest-starring on #NCIS this fall. Had a great time with Mark Harmon, @m_weatherly & @emilywickersham and even got to take over Gibbs desk.”

Who knows? Maybe Tony can leverage this into some sort of great post-football career for himself. It’s hard for many athletes to find their place in the world once their careers are over on the field, and he is one of the few with the charisma to be able to take on something like this. Terry Crews is another former football player who has become a great actor since wrapping up his career there, though he wasn’t anywhere near the star on the field that Gonzales was. Another legend with a role on is Michael Strahan, who used a football-related gig to eventually become the co-host of “Live! with Kelly and Michael” alongside Kelly Ripa.

The season premiere of “NCIS” airs on CBS on Tuesday, September 22, and hopefully we’ll have some more news on what is to come there soon. What we know is that there will be new adversaries, we’re going to meet a younger Ducky, and eventually, we will meet the husband to Wickersham’s Bishop.

What do you think of Tony appearing on the show, and are there any other athletes you want to see make the jump over to scripted TV? (Richard Sherman, please!) Share your thoughts with a comment, and head over here to get some further updates on all we cover via our newsletter.

Photo: CBS