Everything came up Rob Gronkowski this past offseason.
After sitting out the 2019 NFL season, a rejuvenated Gronk elected to end his short-lived retirement and strap the pads back on. Of course, the star tight end won’t be returning to the New England Patriots. Instead, he’ll be reuniting with Tom Brady down in Tampa Bay.
Given the stars just so happened to perfectly align for a Brady-Gronkowski reunion, many believed the two future Hall of Famers long had been planning to team up once the 2019 campaign wrapped. Gronk, however, insists it merely was a product of circumstance.
“No, we never really talked about that before,” Gronkowski said on WEEI, as transcribed by the Tampa Bay Times. “It kind of just happened. (With) my retirement and him hitting free agency, it just kind of lined up like that.”
The five-time Pro Bowl selection recently did admit Brady was one of the leading factors in his decision to join the Buccaneers. Gronkowski also acknowledged the opportunity to play outside of Foxboro, in general, was appealing.
“As a player, you always want to see what it is like somewhere else,” Gronkowski said. “(I) thought of that before, definitely after playing nine years in the NFL and I also thought about it when I came out of retirement.
“This is an opportunity to go see what it’s like somewhere else, to go see what it’s like in the NFL on another squad. There’s so many players that bounce around on so many different teams. I loved my time in New England, no doubt about it. But it was another opportunity that presented.”
The Bucs are set up to offer Gronkowski much more than a fresh start. With a loaded collection of offensive weapons, Tampa Bay enters the 2020 season as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
