While Rob Gronkowski is currently retired and the Patriots own his contract, could he pair up with former teammate Tom Brady in Tampa Bay?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were recently able to sign free agent Tom Brady, the best quarterback of all time. This move seemed impossible at first, but it did come to fruition. Could the same thing happen with the greatest tight end of all time, Rob Gronkowski?
Gronkowski had a short career in the NFL, but it was one of the best by a tight end in league history. The legacy that Gronk leaves is an extremely difficult act to follow, and the future Hall of Famer found his success with current Buccaneer Tom Brady.
While Gronk rode off into the sunset after his last Super Bowl win back in 2019 and retired citing his many career injuries, his move to rejoin close friend Tom Brady has started to gain some traction.
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The move in and of itself is not completely crazy, but it would be difficult to pull off.
For starters, Gronk would have to get back into football shape and decide that he wants to return from his retirement. While it has seemed like he has enjoyed himself so far, Rob Gronkowski would not be the first NFL player to return from early retirement.
After that, the Buccaneers would have to make a trade with the Patriots for Gronk as he is still under contract for them. Again, this seems unlikely, but New England would probably not ask for a king’s ransom for Gronk’s contract. He hasn’t played in a year and could just choose to not return.
The final move for the Buccaneers to make is to move off of one of their current tight ends. They likely do not need three, and they would probably have to move Cameron Brate just to open up enough cap space to pay Gronk.
Moving Brate or O.J. Howard is a move that many Bucs fans anticipated before the draft, but at this point, anything can happen. It should be noted, though, that Brate recently restructured his contract to stay with the Buccaneers, so that would be a wrench in the plan.
Just to fan the fire further, NFL Insider Leroy, a Twitter account that is owned and operated by Pardon My Take co-host PFT Commenter of Barstool Sports, tweeted out the following this evening:
Hearing a wild rumor that has serious legs. Rob Gronkowski is strongly considering returning to the NFL to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with his old teammate Tom Brady. Has been training in Florida in addition to Wrestlemania. Please credit Leroy woof woof
— Ghost Of Leroy (@LeroyInsider) April 8, 2020
Just to be clear, this Twitter account has been wildly wrong on more than one occasion and is not a source to trust at face value, although the account has been right several times.
The real reason why this report should have some validity is that Rob Gronkowski is a reoccurring guest on Pardon My Take, and one can assume that this relationship could lead to some valuable information being passed along.
Is it the most likely situation? Certainly not. There are too many things that would have to go right that show no indication of doing so for this to happen, but it is exciting to imagine a world where Tom Brady could be throwing touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski for the Buccaneers rather than against them.