The easy answer is yes, because almost every player in the NFL is available in trade at any time, if the price is right. The real question, then, isn’t whether Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is available in trade, but whether the Patriots are still motivated to explore moving him.
According to a new report, they are.
As PFT has reported, the Patriots were calling other teams about a possible trade as recently as three days before the draft. Only two days before the draft, Gronkowski confirmed that he’ll play in 2018, nearly three months after refusing to commit to another season.
He thereafter showed up only for the mandatory minicamp, and he has yet to get a contract adjustment, which PFT reported on June 11 as being not imminent but likely.
The lingering absence of a new deal has prompted some teams to conclude that Gronkowski remains available, according to Greg Bedard of BostonSportsJournal.com (via NESN.com).
"'Where’s the restructure of his contract?’” an unnamed AFC personnel executive told Bedard. “Until that’s done, I think he’s still available. I wouldn’t be surprised if [Bill] Belichick is going to test Gronk’s buy-in with the contract.’”
Of course, Gronkowski still has some leverage of his own. He could still retire, with no financial consequence (other than giving up his $8 million salary), leaving the team without his services and, absent a trade, without compensation for him.
However it plays out, it makes sense to regard him as a guy who could be traded, especially if another team decides to cough up more than whatever the Patriots wanted for him in April.
