The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently in discussions with the New England Patriots about a deal that would bring TE Rob Gronkowski out of retirement and down to Tampa Bay, according to reports from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Buccaneers have had TE O.J. Howard on the trading block for a bit of time now, as well, and it seems that the two sides are just working on getting a deal met.
Could we see a deal that would see the Buccaneers bring in Gronkowski and ship Howard away to New England? Well, it’s becoming more and more likely.
As we get closer to the NFL Draft, it will be interesting to see what the two sides discuss and what terms they may be able to agree to.
For those that are unsure about making a trade for Gronk, there are certainly reasons to be skeptical. He is now 30 years old and has had his fair share of bumps and bruises that could be an issue moving forward. In addition to his age, Gronkowski is also slated to make close to $10 million this year should he come out of retirement.
That’s quite the cap hit for the Buccaneers, who are slated to pay O.J. Howard just $1.8 million this season.
While we see the downfalls of the deal, you also have to think of the upside. Gronkowski is possibly the greatest tight end of all-time coming off a year’s rest. He would likely be willing to restructure his deal- as the Patriots could just trade his rights to the Buccaneers- and then Tampa would be able to work him in under the salary cap.
Tampa would then be able to pair Gronkowski- who hopefully will have recovered from the year of rest- with Cameron Brate to present one of the best tight end rooms in the league. Gronk’s experience with Brady would be a great plus and he is more of the type of tight end that Bruce Arians is looking for, rather than a guy like Howard.
The Bucs would likely have to give up a draft pick- or at least swap with New England- so you could see Tampa Bay give up one of its fourth round picks or potentially swap that second fourth-round pick with New England’s sixth-round pick, or something of the sort.