Breathe easy, New England Patriots fans. It appears Rob Gronkowski is not being traded after all.
Patriot Nation was put on high alert Friday after rumors circulating on Twitter and Reddit suggested Gronkowski might have played his final game in New England.
Reddit user “Redditlover1981,” who correctly reported earlier in the week that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman could be facing a four-game suspension for failing a performance-enhancing drug test, teased a “MAJOR” development involving “a current multi-year Patriot” that would become public Friday afternoon
Others on Twitter, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, speculated the story could be a Gronkowski trade. For close to an hour, it appeared Gronkowski’s days in New England truly might be over.
Then, Gronkowski’s older brother, former NFL fullback Chris Gronkowski, took to Twitter to squash the rumors. They’re nothing more than “fake news,” he wrote.
Sounds like fake news https://t.co/GX1TIeuQxD
— Chris Gronkowski (@Chrisgronkowski) June 8, 2018
Minutes later, Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston echoed the elder Gronkowski’s tweet. The Patriots star, Curran reported, was not being traded.
Even in the depths of the offseason, the Patriots always find a way to keep things interesting.
