ESPN’s Adam Schefter basically scoffed at the idea of Rob Gronkowski retiring in a video published on the New England Patriots’ website.
Megan O’Brien of Patriots.com caught up with Schefter at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis to break down a few New England storylines, including Gronkowski’s status for 2018. Schefter made it perfectly clear he believes Gronkowski will be back next season despite the retirement rumors that have surrounded the Patriots tight end since New England’s Super Bowl LII loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last month.
“Was there ever a question that he wasn’t going to be back next year?,” Schefter asked, to which O’Brien referenced the social media noise regarding Gronk.
“The Twitter machine tells us a lot of things, right,” Schefter added. “A lot of times they don’t turn out to be necessarily true. I think he still is in the prime of his career, I think he has football left, and I think that you’ll see him back next year.”
Gronkowski was unwilling to address his future immediately following the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss, leaving the door open for an offseason of uncertainty. There’s been talk about Gronkowski possibly becoming an actor or pursuing a career in WWE, and a recent report even suggested he didn’t enjoy himself last season and actually considered stepping away during training camp.
But NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported this week that Gronkowski is expected to return in 2018 — a report the tight end might have responded to with a cryptic tweet — and Schefter evidently subscribes to the same theory based on what he’s been told to this point.
