Rob Gronkowski on un-retiring to play with Tom Brady: 'You just never know'
Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has been busy since he retired after the 2019 NFL season. He’s become an on-camera NFL analyst for Fox, hosted Fox’s New Year’s Eve show with Steve Harvey, appeared on “The Masked Singer,” and even won the WWE’s 24/7 Championship.
All those activities haven’t stopped him from thinking about football, though. While he was on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” on Monday night, host Andy Cohen asked if Gronk would come out of retirement to play with his old quarterback Tom Brady, who recently left the Patriots and signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Andy, do you want to know what’s so great, man? The day I retired, within 24 hours there were already rumors that I was coming out of retirement,” Gronk said via MassLive. “I’m feeling good right now. I’m happy where I’m at. And you just never know, man. You just never know. I’m not totally done. ... But I’ve got to get that feeling back.”
Not a definitive yes or no from Gronk, who has continued to leave the door open for a possible comeback since he retired. Despite not wanting to give a firm answer on returning to the NFL, he has consistently said that he won’t return unless he really has the drive to play — or as Gronk put it, “I’ve got to get that feeling back.”
He may be retired, but Gronkowski still has opinions on his former team. Cohen asked Gronk how he thinks the 2019 Patriots did without him, and if they would have done better with him. Not surprisingly, he thinks the Pats would have done better with him on the team.
“Personally, yes. I’m a weapon, I feel like. I feel like I can stretch the field pretty good and help open up the underneath for the underneath receivers. But overall, I think going into the playoffs is a sound season. But of course, when you’re a New England Patriots fan, you want to go all the way every single year. So just making the playoffs isn’t enough.”
The Patriots got knocked out of the playoffs in the wild-card round last season, which Gronk calls a “sound season.” No one knows how far the Patriots could have gone if Gronk had been suiting up, but he seems to think they could have delivered more than just a “sound season.” It was Gronkowski’s decision to retire, though, and right now he seems happy to just sit on the sidelines.
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