Rob Gronkowski Says He's '100 Percent Retired' Even If Tom Brady Makes Comeback | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Andrew Mckinney Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski confirmed Wednesday that he is "100 percent retired" and won't return to the playing field under any circumstances, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
But what about if his longtime quarterback, Tom Brady, decides to come out of retirement again?
"Nope. I'm done," Gronkowski told Schultz.
New York Jets fans have been clamoring for Brady to come out of retirement and suit up for Gang Green following Aaron Rodgers' season-ending Achilles tear suffered on the team's first drive of a Week 1 win over the Buffalo Bills.
However, The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported this week that Brady is not among the quarterbacks the Jets would pursue following Rodgers injury. She added that the seven-time Super Bowl champion has also made it clear to people close to him that he's done playing football.
With any talk of Brady coming out of retirement there is similar discussion about Gronkowski playing again.
Gronkowski has only played with Brady as his quarterback, first with the New England Patriots from 2010-2018 and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2020-21. Once Brady left the Patriots and joined the Bucs in 2020, he convinced Gronkowski to come out of retirement and join him in Tampa Bay.
Gronkowski and Brady won four Super Bowls together, three in New England and one in Tampa Bay. The tight end was also a five-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro in his 11 seasons.
The 34-year-old finished his career having caught 621 passes for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns in 143 games. He also caught 98 passes for 1,389 yards and 15 touchdowns in 22 playoff games.
The future Hall of Famer has kept himself quite busy in retirement as an NFL analyst on Fox Sports alongside former Patriots teammate Julian Edelman.
Gronkowski and Edelman are expected to be joined by Brady in the Fox family next year when he takes over as its lead NFL analyst in the broadcast booth after agreeing to a reported 10-year, $375 million deal before his playing career was even over.