Reports: Gronkowski to join Brady in Tampa

After one year of retirement, it appears that Rob Gronkowski is ready to return to the NFL, and apparently, it won’t be with the Patriots.

According to ESPN.com, the Patriots and Buccaneers have agreed to terms on a shocking trade that will bring Gronk out of retirement and send him to Tampa. In the deal, the Patriots will be sending Gronk and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers, and in return, New England will get a fourth-round pick from Tampa.

What this all means is that GRONK IS COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT. According to NFL.com, Gronk informed the Patriots this week that not only did he want to return to football, but he wanted to reunite with Tom Brady. The reason the two teams had to work out a trade for Gronk is because the tight end had one-year remaining on his contract when he called it quits following the 2018 season and since he didn’t play in 2019, that meant the Patriots still had him under contract for one more year.

One reason the Patriots were likely open to a deal is because of their precarious salary cap situation. As of April 21, the Patriots have roughly $2.1 million in salary cap space, which is a huge issue, because once Gronk comes out of retirement, New England would have to immediately make room for his $12 million cap hit. If the Patriots couldn’t make the room, then they would have two options: Trade him immediately or cut him.

Obviously, the Patriots chose to go with option one. Trading him away makes a lot of sense for the Patriots, because they’re a rebuilding roster that needs all the draft picks they can get.

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