Earlier this week, Rob Gronkowski produced kind of a fake out when he tweeted, “I’m kinda bored.”
It turned out he was doing that to promote the fact that he was making a TV appearance. But there may have been a little more to Gronkowski actually being bored.
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Gronkowski and the Buccaneers had “several conversations” about the tight end returning to the franchise around Thanksgiving.
Stroud reports that Gronkowski and the Buccaneers talked about different options for his return, including Gronkowski possibly joining the practice squad to get back into football shape. But, the Bucs were also willing to add Gronkowski to the 53-man roster.
Still, Gronkowski decided to stay retired.
Via Stroud, head coach Todd Bowles said, “It was more of a conversation than anything else. … Usually, when you have to think about playing, you probably don’t want to play. When it’s just a discussion, I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
Gronkowski’s first retirement lasted one season — 2019 — as he returned to join Tom Brady with the Bucs in 2020. He started all 16 games that season, recording 45 catches for 623 yards with seven touchdowns.
Despite missing several games with fractured ribs, Gronkowski caught 55 passes for 802 yards with six TDs.
The Bucs offense has struggled in 2022, currently ranking No. 18 in yards and No. 28 in points. That’s largely because the club can’t run the ball — ranking No. 32 in attempts, yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry. Conversely, the Bucs are No. 1 in passing attempts and No. 4 in passing yards, though they’re No. 16 in passing touchdowns.
Tampa Bay will play at Arizona on Sunday night before taking on the Panthers at home and the Falcons on the road to end the regular season.
