Rob Gronkowski first retired from the NFL in 2019 as a member of the New England Patriots.
The future Hall of Fame tight end retired again in 2022 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And even though he hasn’t played in the league since then, it appears that Gronk will retire one more time, again as a member of the Patriots.
The idea of Gronkowski signing a ceremonial one-day contract with the team that he helped win three Super Bowls was floated publicly Tuesday by Susan Hurley, the founder and president of the CharityTeams fundraising firm for nonprofits.
Hurley was speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly built “Gronk Playground” on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston when she threw in a personal plea toward Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was sitting behind Hurley next to Gronkowski.
“Can we just make it official and sign [Gronkowski] for a day so he can retire as a Patriot?” Hurley asked before looking in Kraft’s direction and adding, “What do you say?”
Gronkowski applauded and nodded while looking in Kraft’s direction. The owner, who was off camera at the time, apparently gave his approval, as Gronkowski later confirmed to reporters.
“[Kraft] gave her a thumbs up, so we’re going to make it happen in the future and it’s gonna be a special moment,” the five-time Pro Bowl selection said. “Come back for a day, a weekend, whatever it is. So we’ll make it happen and it will be a really, really cool moment. It’s gonna happen, we just don’t know when.”
The Patriots have not announced such a move and did not respond immediately on Thursday to The Times’ request to comment. On Wednesday, a somewhat less official announcement came on the Instagram account of the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast hosted by Gronkowski and former Patriots teammate Julian Edelmen.
“Gronk will sign a one day contract and retire a New England Patriot,” read the post that was accompanied by a video that featured Gronkowski speaking on the podcast about being drafted by the Patriots. The video doesn’t mention anything about him signing a one-day contract with the team, but it does feature a graphic that reads: “Breaking — Gronk will retire a New England Patriot.”
New England selected Gronkowski in the second round of the 2010 draft. He became a key and beloved member of the team’s dynasty under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. After Brady left for Tampa Bay before the 2020 season, Gronkowski came out of retirement to join him and ended up winning his fourth career Super Bowl that year.