Tony Gonzalez reveals joining Rob Gronkowski on Patriots ‘almost happened'

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The New England Patriots were lucky to have one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history in Rob Gronkowski for nine years, and at one point, another legendary player at the position nearly joined the roster.

That's right, Hall of Fame tight end and current FOX Sports NFL analyst Tony Gonzalez revealed Sunday in a behind-the-scenes video that joining Gronkowski in New England "almost happened." Gonzalez didn't specify when the move could have occurred, but it does create a pretty interesting "what if?" scenario for fans to wonder about.

Check out the exchange between Gonzalez and hist FOX Sports colleague Gronkowski in the tweet below:

Gonzalez was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1997 and played with them for 12 seasons before joining the Atlanta Falcons for the final six years of his career. He retired after the 2013 season and is currently No. 3 on the league's career receptions leaderboard with 1,325 over 17 seasons.

Gronkowski had a shorter career than Gonzalez due to injuries and retired in March, but he arguably was the most dominant tight end we've ever seen. Gronk tallied 79 touchdown receptions in 115 career regular season games, and his postseason résumé (which includes three Super Bowl titles) is quite impressive, too.

A Gronkowski-Gonzalez combo would have been really fun, especially with Tom Brady at quarterback, and maybe the Patriots would have won another Super Bowl if Gonzalez had come to Foxboro.

The only question now is if Gronkowski will put his retirement on hold and return to the Patriots this season. On Sunday morning, he teased a "big announcement" coming Tuesday.

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