How Rob Gronkowski Compared To Oddsmaker’s Most Notable Playmakers
Even at age 32, Gronk was a game changer
Rob Gronkowski is one of the most impactful playmakers in NFL history.
The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end retired Tuesday, ending an incredible nine-year career. Gronkowski was a matchup nightmare every time he stepped on the field and he hauled in 621 passes for over 9,000 yards and 95 touchdowns. And that's just in the regular season. He snagged another 98 balls in the playoffs for almost 1,400 yards and 15 scores.
But how much was Gronk worth to the point spread?
Legendary Las Vegas oddsmaker Kenny White is known around the sports betting world for his power ratings. White makes ratings, spreads and totals for all the major professional and collegiate sports and he's done it for four decades. Not only does he have numbers on every team, he takes it to another level and assigns a point value to every player above his replacement, too.
Despite battling multiple injuries and playing nowhere near full-strength at the end of last season, White said Gronkowski was still worth 1.4 points to the betting line. So if Tampa Bay was a 5-point favorite in a given game with Gronk, the adjusted line was closer to 3.5 without him.
White passed along a list of offensive playmaker ratings (non-QBs) from 2021:
Offensive player spread values via Kenny White:
2.2 - D.K. Metcalf, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill
2.0 - Derrick Henry
1.9 - George Kittle, Davante Adams
1.8 - Nick Chubb
1.7 - Tyler Lockett, Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins, Darren Waller, Dalvin Cook, Jarvis Landry, Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson, Alvin Kamara
1.6 - Michael Thomas, Amari Cooper
1.5 - Keenan Allen, Mike Evans, Cooper Kupp
1.4 - Mark Andrews, Rob Gronkowski, A.J. Brown, Allen Robinson, Adam Thielen, Christian McCaffrey
Two points might not sound like a whole lot, but only quarterbacks are generally worth more to the line. Players like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen are worth over a touchdown.
"Gronkowski was worth at least two points in his prime," White said. "Maybe more in the playoffs."
In terms of stacking Gronk against other Hall of Fame football players, he's in extremely solid company according to White's extensive database of player power ratings.
"The biggest difference I ever had for a position player was three points and that was Deion Sanders," White explained. "He was such an amazing cornerback but also a great return man, too. In this day and age, I've got Aaron Donald worth two-and-a-half points. He's the most valuable position player right now."
