Buzz has been rising surrounding future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski’s return to football over the past week. There are plenty of teams around the league who could utilize his services, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are still alive in the playoff race after an overtime win against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night.
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Well, to start off the week, we learned some good news and bad news. To start off, Gronkowski is indeed evaluating a return to the NFL and multiple teams, including the Buccaneers, have reached out to the veteran, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. However, this late into the year, Gronk is focused on gauging his options in 2023 rather than this year.
“Well, teams are kind of wondering too. A couple teams contacted him, contacted his agent, just to see where he was, was he willing to unretire,” Rapoport said on Monday morning. “Turns out, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers actually had conversations with Gronk over the course of the past weeks, months, actually going all the way back to training camp, just to see if he was possibly going to unretire and come back to the team. “
“What we learned is that it’s not going to be this year. Gronk is not going to come back and play for the Bucs this year, he is retired for now. But certainly, from my understanding, the door is open for 2023,” Rapoport continued. “Of course, we’ve talked, Tom Brady a free agent at the end of this year. I know the Bucs want him back but there is the possibility of him going somewhere else if he doesn’t retire. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gronk followed him wherever he went, obviously, that is something we’ll be keeping an eye on this offseason.”
So, a potential return is on the table but not soon enough to help the Buccaneers climb out of a growing hole in the NFC. It’s imperative that Tampa Bay handles Carolina on Sunday. If not, the team will enter a do-or-die scenario in its final game of the regular season against New Orleans.
Despite not playing this year, it’s hard to argue that Gronkowski wouldn’t have a chance to instantly cement his impact on this year’s iteration of the Buccaneers. He brought down 55 passes for 802 yards and six touchdowns last season while missing five games and playing through multiple injuries.
On the flip side, the four tight ends (Cameron Brate, Cade Otton, Ko Kieft, Kyle Rudolph) to see action for the Buccaneers this season have combined for just 68 catches, 643 yards, and three touchdowns.
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