NFL legend Rob Gronkowski is retiring from the sport for the second time ahead of the 2022 season.
The 33-year-old originally retired as a member of the New England Patriots in 2019, but returned with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 season. He came out of retirement to join long-time teammate and close friend Tom Brady in Florida, and the duo led the Buccaneers to their second Super Bowl championship.
Gronkowski caught two touchdowns in the Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs to end the 2020 campaign. He remained effective in 2021 with 55 catches for 802 yards and six touchdowns even though he shared the ball with Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown on offence.
The tight end was set to be an unrestricted free agent but will retire as perhaps the greatest player in his position following an 11-year career which featured 621 catches for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns. Gronkowski retires as a four-time Super Bowl champion, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, a four-time First-Team All-Pro while he was selected to both the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Gronkowski, who starred at the University of Arizona in college, secured double-digit touchdown receptions five times during his nine seasons with the Patriots. He was unstoppable in the red zone due to his size and physicality while also being athletic enough to shed tackles in the open field, exploit openings in zones and beat linebackers in open field.
Last September, Gronkowski’s brother Chris told TMZ Sports that the NFL icon would retire when Brady did, although the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback opted to come out of retirement after less than two months. In April 2022, Gronkowski revealed to TMZ Sports that he was ‘not ready to commit to the game of football right now.”
The Buccaneers may not have repeated as Super Bowl champions last season, but Gronkowski helped the franchise win their division - the NFC South. The 33-year-old will certainly be heading to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, immortalising his legacy.
Gronkowski posted his retirement statement on social media along with an image of him in Buccaneers uniform. He wrote: “In college, I was asked to write about a dream opportunity that I wanted to pursue and where the location would be. Every time I had to write about my future, no matter what, I picked being a professional football player.
“For that assignment though, we had to pick the location. So I wrote that I wanted to play in Tampa for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for many reasons, the sunny weather being #1.
“I completely forgot about writing this report until 2 years ago when I had the opportunity to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And let me tell ya, the journey in Tampa over the last 2 years has blown away what I originally wrote about in college, big time.
Do you think Rob Gronkowski will enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Let us know in the comments section.
“And for this, I want to thank the whole entire first class Buccaneers organisation for an amazing ride, trusting me to come back to play and help build a championship team. I will now be going back into my retirement home, walking away from football again with my head held high knowing I gave it everything I had, good or bad, every time I stepped out on the field.
“The friendships and relationships I have made will last forever, and I appreciate every single one of my teammates and coaches for giving everything they had as well. From retirement, back to football and winning another championship and now back to chilling out, thank you to all.
“Buccaneers fans, the Krewe, without you guys, none of this is possible, all of ya brought it every game, thank you for all you do. Cheers to what’s next, maybe sailing the seas. Arghhhhh!!”
