Retiring tight end Rob Gronkowski was unique both on the field and off it. As Josh McDaniels, the Patriots' offensive coordinator-quarterbacks coach, said in a release from the team on Monday: 'There will never be another Gronk.'
Memories?
Where to begin when, for nearly a decade, you’ve been fortunate enough to watch someone perform who was the very best at what he did.
Such has been life for football fans in New England since Rob Gronkowski arrived in Foxboro as a second-round choice out of Arizona, back surgery in college (unfortunately, a sign of things to come) prompting him to drop to the 42nd overall pick wedged between Central Florida defensive tackle Torell Troup and Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle, who went to Buffalo and Baltimore, respectively, as 41 and 43 in the 2010 NFL Draft.
Gronkowski’s body of work over nine seasons, from 2010 until Sunday when he took to Instagram to announce his retirement from pro football at the age of 29, suggest that nobody’s done it better.
He was, as the man who signed his paychecks for those nine years, Robert Kraft, said in a statement released by the team on Sunday, “the most dominant player at his position for nearly a decade.”
The numbers Gronkowski put up in contributing to three Super Bowl championships reflect that, the stats far too numerous to list here but ones that consume 5-1/2 pages in the game release the Patriots issued prior to their 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
It was only fitting that Gronkowski should save one of his best moments for last, beating linebacker Cory Littleton down the left seam and laying out to make a diving catch of a 29-yard pass from Tom Brady midway through the fourth quarter, his 81st career postseason reception spotting the ball for the only touchdown of the game, a 2-yard run by Sony Michel that broke a 3-3 tie.
Beyond the numbers, though, beyond the 521 receptions for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns Gronkowski posted in 115 regular-season games and the 81 catches for 1,163 yards and 12 TDs he had in 16 postseason affairs, beyond the matchup problems he posed to opposing defenses, the big-bodied pass-catching target with soft hands he gave Brady and the runaway locomotive he posed to overmatched defenders in the open field, there was the 6-foot-6, 268-pounder’s ability to get in the trenches and block with the brute force of an offensive lineman.
As tight ends go, Gronkowski truly was the total package.
Granted, his hit on Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White as he lay defenseless on the turf in the fourth quarter of a 23-3 win at Buffalo in 2017 was blatantly cheap and out of character, leading to his suspension for one game, but the manner in which he nearly drove safety Sergio Brown into the stands on a touchdown run by Jonas Gray in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 42-20 romp at Indianapolis in 2014 and his explanation of the play (“I took him and threw him out of the club”) were laughable. And his blocking in the team’s postseason run to their Super Bowl LIII championship was a clinic.
“You always felt you had a chance to win with Rob on the field; he had that kind of impact on the game,” Patriots offensive coordinator-quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels said in a statement released by the team on Monday. “He is one of the very few players who could control the game offensively in the pass and run game, and he thoroughly enjoyed being great in both areas.”
Off the field, Gronkowski was known to party as hard as he played (surely you recall his “yo soy fiesta” quote) and his sense of humor could be classic (my favorite was when, during the Super Bowl LI champions’ White House visit he crashed a press briefing, peering out from behind a door to ask press secretary Sean Spicer “need some help?) although at times sophomoric, but, on a more serious note, as the Ron Burton Community Service Award he was presented in 2016 attests he was exemplary when it came to giving his time. I’ll never forget a member of the Patriots organization telling me years ago that if a player’s presence was needed at a charity event, no one could be counted on more than special teams captain Matthew Slater and Gronkowski, the two of them Pro Bowlers (five times in the latter’s case) off the field as well as on it.
It’s unfortunate that, in the end, it seems that the injury report did what so many scouting reports couldn’t do, getting the best of him.
Simply put, Gronkowski is an old 29.
There were far too many injuries, too many aches and pains, too many surgeries along the way.
Already, there is speculation that after taking some time off Gronkowski will return, a possibility that shouldn’t be summarily dismissed.
For now, though, let us appreciate what he did the past nine years.
Simply put, nobody’s done it better.
McDaniels said it best in the last line of his statement: “There will never be another Gronk.”