Gronk announces his retirement

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Number45forever

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I'm really going to miss watching him play football. End of an era. As much fun as it would be for him to come back at some point, he's been through so many injuries. Fine with me if he just goes out like this as a champion.
 

wiffleballhero

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In the simulacrum
FWIW, his agent says he wouldn't be shocked if he returns late in season.
I'll hold on to this sliver of hope. It will be obvious if this is in the cards by his work-out program. If he stays in shape and especially if he stays around Boston, I'd call it a lock. If he de-camps to LA, and opens the 'Yo Soy Fiesta' bar and grill, forget it.
 

RedOctober3829

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Drew Rosenhaus on @GetUpESPN on Rob Gronkowski’s future: “If the team was struggling or they needed him at some point next year, and let’s just say hypothetically Tom Brady gave him a call and said ‘Rob, I need you.’ I wouldn’t be shocked if he came back to play a few games.”
 

koufax32

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Drew Rosenhaus on @GetUpESPN on Rob Gronkowski’s future: “If the team was struggling or they needed him at some point next year, and let’s just say hypothetically Tom Brady gave him a call and said ‘Rob, I need you.’ I wouldn’t be shocked if he came back to play a few games.”

Forget the benefit to the team. This would be awesome for the Rick Pitino memes alone.
 

nattysez

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According to Curran, Gronk ignored the Pats' request to make a retirement decision before free agency as an "eff you" to the Pats for underpaying him the last couple of years and trying to trade him. That kind of undermines the "Gronk will drop everything to come save the day for Tom" theory. At the very least, he's going to want A LOT of money for those games.
 

E5 Yaz

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According to Curran, Gronk ignored the Pats' request to make a retirement decision before free agency as an "eff you" to the Pats for underpaying him the last couple of years and trying to trade him. That kind of undermines the "Gronk will drop everything to come save the day for Tom" theory. At the very least, he's going to want A LOT of money for those games.
If you believe Curran
 

Mystic Merlin

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According to Curran, Gronk ignored the Pats' request to make a retirement decision before free agency as an "eff you" to the Pats for underpaying him the last couple of years and trying to trade him. That kind of undermines the "Gronk will drop everything to come save the day for Tom" theory. At the very least, he's going to want A LOT of money for those games.
Why wouldn’t he wait until after the draft? Did he only want to screw them a little bit?
 

aksoxfan

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He has the most amazing hands. If the ball is within his reach he will almost always catch it. So dependable. Hoping he comes back for playoffs, but either way it was a privilege to watch him play.
 

Bellhorn

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Why wouldn’t he wait until after the draft? Did he only want to screw them a little bit?
Presumably he just made the decision on his own timeline, instead of hurrying things up out of consideration for the team. Don’t know if that is true, of course, but that would seem to be the implication.
 

Reverend

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I’d also add that he laid a huge block on the ensuing 1 yard TD plunge to seal the game. Perfect player.
It is a rare thing to see anyone so perfectly suited to a role, particularly one so... extreme and difficult.

There's a kind of poetry to it--even if you don't like football, it's hard not to imagine Gronk as born to play TE. And, like, I mean, he was more suited to this incredibly difficult and extreme role than most people are for much easier jobs.

He's like the Platonic ideal of a football player, which seems almost impossible given the range of attributes that entails.

And the guy basically couldn't even walk for awhile in college. The Gronk Story is going to be one that is fun to watch as it gets told and retold.

According to Curran, Gronk ignored the Pats' request to make a retirement decision before free agency as an "eff you" to the Pats for underpaying him the last couple of years and trying to trade him. That kind of undermines the "Gronk will drop everything to come save the day for Tom" theory. At the very least, he's going to want A LOT of money for those games.
For all the periodic speculation, I think Gronk is smart enough to realize that he's never played pro football for anyone but Belichick and, frankly, might not enjoy it.

Remember LGBT walking out on the Steelers and then coming back to the Patriots? I'm not sure how long Gronk would last on another team, and I think he understands how fortunate he's been in his career to be in a place that is as totally committed as he is and also isn't bothered by Gronk being Gronk as long as he comes in and grinds every day--which is what Gronk being Gronk is.
 

tims4wins

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As much as I would love for Gronk to return after Thanksgiving, some part of me worries about the David Ortiz / Le'Veon Bell effect of having that hang over a team for most of the year. The Pats are not the Steelers or the Red Sox, and of course BB is notorious for blocking out the noise, but I could see it having some impact of players having it in the back of their minds that he might be coming back.
 

Reverend

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As much as I would love for Gronk to return after Thanksgiving, some part of me worries about the David Ortiz / Le'Veon Bell effect of having that hang over a team for most of the year. The Pats are not the Steelers or the Red Sox, and of course BB is notorious for blocking out the noise, but I could see it having some impact of players having it in the back of their minds that he might be coming back.
"Look guys, we gotta play better. Gronk is not walking through that doo--oh, hey Rob. OK, nevermind; let's just win this thing, 'kay?"
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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If you believe Curran
I stopped reading Curran's piece closely when I saw what direction it was going but I thought it was kind of odd that Curran didn't even mention that the Patriots gifted Gronk the ability to earn an extra nearly $6 million in 2017 and that he earned every penny. This was a flat out gift. They couldn't really extend him given the talk about possible retirement and so they made it incentive based just like in 2018.
 

nattysez

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Why wouldn’t he wait until after the draft? Did he only want to screw them a little bit?
Curran's speculation on the Quick Slants podcast is that losing out on Jared Cook led the Pats to push him harder to make a decision. Curran also says he would be unsurprised if Gronk comes back late in the year.

I realize I'm putting a lot of eggs in the "Tom Curran knows what he's talking about" basket. I feel like he's one of the rare local guys who actually uses the stuff he knows but can't write about to inform his speculation (especially on his podcast), but YMMV.
 

Caspir

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Curran's speculation on the Quick Slants podcast is that losing out on Jared Cook led the Pats to push him harder to make a decision. Curran also says he would be unsurprised if Gronk comes back late in the year.

I realize I'm putting a lot of eggs in the "Tom Curran knows what he's talking about" basket. I feel like he's one of the rare local guys who actually uses the stuff he knows but can't write about to inform his speculation (especially on his podcast), but YMMV.
So he retired when he did to screw the team he is super pissed at, but he'll totally come back to that team for a few games if needed? That sounds valid.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I'm sure that there were days when Gronk felt underpaid given what he was putting his body through. And he may have even expressed some of this to Curran. But to lead your morning after retirement story with what was probably just one facet of a very multi-faceted decision by Gronk, and probably changed daily any way, seems to be click-baity or an appeal to sensationalism. I get the sense that Curran thought his one-on-one time with Gronk where he got to touch his sore leg was really special and Curran wanted to write a piece that highlighted his supposed inside knowledge to the Gronk brain and humblebrag. But to do that his narrative had to be something other than what everyone else was writing and he found a Gronk-is-disrespected angle. It's too bad.
 

reggiecleveland

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So he retired when he did to screw the team he is super pissed at, but he'll totally come back to that team for a few games if needed? That sounds valid.
It is not necessarily invalid either. He does not want to play an entire season. The idea of coming back was related in a loyalty to Brady not the Pats organisation.
 

axx

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To me that sounds like Gronk is done and him coming back is just wishful thinking on Rosenhaus' part.

And I think he should retire because of his health.
 

Batman Likes The Sox

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My favorite Gronk video is still the one where he's a giant in 1st grade catching all the candy out of the piñata with his huge hands. It was a joy to watch him play, and I'll echo that I'm glad he's getting out young.

That said, this is still amusing.

https://sports.theonion.com/retiring-rob-gronkowski-admits-he-ll-miss-teammates-bl-1833546974

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FOXBORO, MA—In an emotional speech announcing his retirement after a nine-year NFL career with the New England Patriots, Rob Gronkowski reportedly admitted Monday that he’ll miss his teammates’ blurry faces and the fans spinning perpetually in the stands. “It’s really hard to know that I’ll never again stumble off the field, trying to regain my balance while the stadium crowd whirls around me and bright lights hurt my eyes,” said the 29-year-old tight end, adding that he’ll never forget the smell of grass as his head was slammed into the turf by several tacklers or looking up at the dozens of fuzzy, indistinct teammates standing above him waiting for the injury cart to arrive. “I’ll miss the rush of trying to guess which of the 10 balls flying toward me was the one I was supposed to catch, and I’ll definitely pine for the days when I’d arrive at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday in June thinking it was gameday. Mostly, I’ll miss both Tom Bradys, both Bill Belichicks, and both Robert Krafts, who were always there for me, fading in and out of my vision, asking me if I was really in that much pain and if I could suck it up and get back on the field. I’m just thankful I’ll have this constant ringing in my ears to remember my time in the NFL by.” Gronkowski added that he was retiring early in order to enjoy the few years of remembering his career he has left.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Now that this has set in, I think much of what I'll miss about Gronk is the amazing counterbalance he presented to Belichick and Brady. They come off as cold and calculating. He presented the fun-loving side. These are all stereotypes and the truth is that he was just as hard working as they. But part of the fun of this team in the last 9 years has definitely been the yin and yang. They are definitely yin, and Gronk was definitely yang. And it all worked so amazingly well.
 

Saints Rest

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God damn I’m going to miss watching him play, but this is such a smart decision by him. Hopefully his body can recovered from what it has endured.

Pretty amazing that Gronk will go into the Hall of Fame before Tom Brady.
Listening to Golic and Wingo this morning and they were not only adamant that Gronk would be first-ballot HOF, but that he was the greatest TE of all-time. A bit of talk about longevity favoring Gonzalez and Gates, but they discounted that as only a small part of one's consideration of GOAT.

Interesting trivia, -- assuming Gronk does indeed stay retired and end up first-ballot in 5 years, -- he will join only Jim Brown and Gale Sayers as HOFers who never played in their 30's. He would be the second youngest elected to the Hall, tying Brown, second to Sayers.
 

Dollar

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Interesting trivia, -- assuming Gronk does indeed stay retired and end up first-ballot in 5 years, -- he will join only Jim Brown and Gale Sayers as HOFers who never played in their 30's.
Terrell Davis too, right?
 

Kliq

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The first thing that I will remember his how he just destroyed Pittsburgh during their regular season meeting in 2017. That final Pats drive was the perfect example of what made Gronk the GOAT. He makes several catches; including balls over the middle where he gets absolutely whacked but keeps going and holds onto the ball. He makes a shoe-string catch and scoops the ball up an inch from the ground, an insane snag for someone so big. On the two-point conversion he makes a killer one-on-one move and pops right open for the easy grab. Then he points and laughs at the coverage and does a dopey dance. He had it all.


 

snowmanny

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Gronk retiring, freeing up all kinds of cap space, allowing the Pats to make corresponding moves, only to have him return for the postseason run, of all the dramatic things I've seen, my goodness gracious, would be absolutely amazing. I don't see it happening but it would be great.
ftfy
 

Super Nomario

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The first thing that I will remember his how he just destroyed Pittsburgh during their regular season meeting in 2017. That final Pats drive was the perfect example of what made Gronk the GOAT. He makes several catches; including balls over the middle where he gets absolutely whacked but keeps going and holds onto the ball. He makes a shoe-string catch and scoops the ball up an inch from the ground, an insane snag for someone so big. On the two-point conversion he makes a killer one-on-one move and pops right open for the easy grab. Then he points and laughs at the coverage and does a dopey dance. He had it all.


That drive is what first comes to mind for me, too, though it doesn't have one of his signature "drag three guys" crazy YAC runs. It's worth noting that they also ran behind Gronk on the TD run that capped that drive. He was an absolute monster.
 

kolbitr

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Now that this has set in, I think much of what I'll miss about Gronk is the amazing counterbalance he presented to Belichick and Brady. They come off as cold and calculating. He presented the fun-loving side. These are all stereotypes and the truth is that he was just as hard working as they. But part of the fun of this team in the last 9 years has definitely been the yin and yang. They are definitely yin, and Gronk was definitely yang. And it all worked so amazingly well.

This is exactly what I am feeling...Gronk was such a huge "fun" presence, he made living with robots easier...BB and TB12 always seem machine-like, and even players whom I loved, like Bruschi, and Rodney, and Randy, and Wes, and Willie...they never had truly accessible and oversized personalities like Gronk did. He was a walking cartoon, and it was amazing. God bless.
 

DegenerateSoxFan

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Best. Tight End. Ever. It was a privilege to watch him. And my all time favorite Patriot. Sad to see him go, but who could blame him with the beating he's taken and the chance go out on top?

Ain’t changing my avatar any time soon.
 

lexrageorge

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Can't say I'm surprised. I'll add to the chorus that is happy that the best TE of all time was able to go out on his own terms.

Curran has become an idiot. Gronk doesn't seem like the type to play stupid games regarding the timing of his announcement. He was probably working out and realized that his body couldn't take another season. Maybe the Pats pushed for an answer given the fact the draft is coming up in 30 days.

I wouldn't totally rule out an un-retirement, but I'm not banking on it. Probably a 10% chance at best.
 

bakahump

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How would an Un-Retirement work?
Does he get a new contract? Does his old one kick in due to it not being a certain period of time?
Regardless he isnt coming back for peanuts. So the Pats would need to keep 3-5-7 Million ish in the vault so they can sign him at some point. Would BB and RK be ok with building a team with that chunk missing? What if another need pops up before he arrives?
As I said in another post one does not simply replace gronk expect the same production and keep everything else the same. We (IMH and usually wrong O) will need to become a schematically different offense. Does reintroducing Gronk at game 10 or 12 help us or hinder us as an offense going into the playoffs? How confident would BB be of Gronks effectiveness after a 10 game layoff and no training camp/preseason/practice.

So many questions and so much uncertainty. I cant see a reunion. BB wont allow it. And not because he is a Dick. Simply because it leaves the team with too much uncertainty.

Maybe a 2020 "I been away a year and miss it too much" comeback is in the cards. But Not a Game 12 "Good God thats Gronks Music" comeback.
 

Saints Rest

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How would an Un-Retirement work?
Does he get a new contract? Does his old one kick in due to it not being a certain period of time?
Regardless he isnt coming back for peanuts. So the Pats would need to keep 3-5-7 Million ish in the vault so they can sign him at some point. Would BB and RK be ok with building a team with that chunk missing? What if another need pops up before he arrives?
As I said in another post one does not simply replace gronk expect the same production and keep everything else the same. We (IMH and usually wrong O) will need to become a schematically different offense. Does reintroducing Gronk at game 10 or 12 help us or hinder us as an offense going into the playoffs? How confident would BB be of Gronks effectiveness after a 10 game layoff and no training camp/preseason/practice.

So many questions and so much uncertainty. I cant see a reunion. BB wont allow it. And not because he is a Dick. Simply because it leaves the team with too much uncertainty.

Maybe a 2020 "I been away a year and miss it too much" comeback is in the cards. But Not a Game 12 "Good God thats Gronks Music" comeback.
As usual, Miguel has the answer (from BSJ): "If Gronk decides to unretire during the regular season his cap number would be $9 million divided by 17 times the number of weeks remaining in the season plus $46,875 times the remaining number of games. So let’s say Gronk unretires with nine weeks and nine games remaining in the season. His salary would then be $4,764,706 and his cap number would be $5,186,581."
 

DJnVa

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From PFF, this article is basically Gronk porn (the football kind).
From that article:

As you’d expect, Gronk’s performance from go routes, the vertical route down the field, was practically unparalleled during his time in the NFL, as he caught 71-of-122 go-route targets for 1851 yards, 23 scores, 69 plays of 15 or more yards

Well, all right.
 

TheoShmeo

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I find myself alternating between awe and appreciation for all that is Gronk and despair that (a) I can't watch this guy play any more and (b) his absence will make the Pats' task materially more difficult.

As to the latter, it's true that they completed they won a SB without him. It's also true that Martellus was a very big weapon that year, albeit not at the top of his game. Still, there's a reason why Brady tried to hit him twice at the end of that SB for the win.

In any event, one thing that I don't thing has been discussed a lot was just how incredible his run blocking was last season. People talk a lot about how his receiving numbers were down last year and note that he turned it back up in the playoffs and specifically the last two games. But damn, to my eyes -- and maybe I am dreaming a bit here -- his run blocking in 2018 was as good as it ever was, if not better. He seemed to be involved in a huge percentage of their long gains and short first down runs this year. The Gronk Develin Combo was extraordinary, and I think they might miss him in the run game as much, if not more, than the passing game.

Am I overstating this? I might be. Recency bias and all.
 

Captaincoop

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The thing I'll remember most about Gronk will be that uniquely exciting feeling he evoked during his physical prime when he caught a pass in space, and immediately the secondary turned from the hunters to the hunted as Gronk looked for someone to steamroll or throw out of the club.

It was like when Pac Man ate a power pellet and went after the ghosts.
 

joe dokes

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The thing I'll remember most about Gronk will be that uniquely exciting feeling he evoked during his physical prime when he caught a pass in space, and immediately the secondary turned from the hunters to the hunted as Gronk looked for someone to steamroll or throw out of the club.

It was like when Pac Man ate a power pellet and went after the ghosts.
The moment he caught the ball in stride in any kind of space was like the moment Ray Allen received a perfectly thrown pass or the moment the puck arrived on mid-career Chara's stick at the point on a power play. Fly balls to JBJ with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs probably fit there, too. IIRC, in "Beyond the Sixth Game," Peter Gammons described this as "the moment before the moment."
 

accidentalsuccess

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He's easily the most fun player to watch in my lifetime. Just a monster out there in every phase of the game but with the kind of joy that just rubs off on you. I hope he's healthy and has a great retirement.

'best ever' is tough. No one is talking about Bavaro, who was BB's pick for best TE ever a few years ago. He's personally responsible for a decent part of changing the TE position to what it is today so the stats are tough to directly compare. I'd LOVE to hear BB's answer to 'how would you compare Bavaro to Gronk as complete players at the TE position given the changes in the game between the eras?' or some similar question. It hasn't been asked in a long time, as far as I know/can find.

Most comparisons are just about blocking. (TC, Christmas Eve 2010!): https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/new-england-patriots/belichick-says-gronk-has-similarities-bavaro

2015: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/11/14/asked-about-gronks-blocking-belichick-brings-up-bavaro/

Regardless, I think everyone is sadly correct that we won't see anything like him again soon. Thanks and Godspeed, Gronk!
 
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