Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady to reunite in Tampa Bay after trade with Patriots
Rob Gronkowski sure seems to have enjoyed his retirement from the NFL. He’s danced with the Laker Girls, won the WWE 24/7 belt, competed on “The Masked Singer,” played beer pong with some famous friends and did whatever this was.
But now Gronk is ready to give up the retired life and join his old New England Patriots teammate Tom Brady with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Patriots have traded the Pro Bowl tight end, who has one year and $10 million remaining on his contract, and a seventh-round draft pick to Tampa Bay for a fourth-round pick, the Buccaneers announced Tuesday night.
“I’m back.” Gronkowski said in a tweet to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer.
His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN that Gronkowski “passed his physical with flying colors.”
The 2020 NFL draft is on Thursday, and NFL team beat writers have made their first-round picks in The Times’ annual reporters mock draft.
Gronkowski won three Super Bowls with Brady and the Patriots. Hobbled by injuries, he announced his retirement after nine seasons in March 2018.
“I always said when I have that feeling and it feels right, I will be ready to take the field again,” Gronkowski said in his tweet to Glazer. “And I have that feeling. I’m ready.”
Brady signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent last month after 20 seasons in New England. He already has Pro Bowl receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as his new targets. Now he has one of his old ones back as well.
“Rob has played his entire career alongside Tom Brady and their accomplishments speak for themselves,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said in a statement on the team’s website. “Together they have developed the type of chemistry on and off the field that is crucial to success.”
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