PHOENIX — Let the Gronk watch begin.
A day after Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement, Patriots fans received a glimmer of hope that the tight end could still return. On Monday, Drew Rosenhaus, Gronk’s agent, said he wouldn’t be surprised if his high-profile client makes a return to the Patriots sometime this coming season.
When approached by The Providence Journal at the NFL Owners Meetings, Rosenhaus said he didn’t want to falsely get fans' [...]
PHOENIX — Let the Gronk watch begin.
A day after Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement, Patriots fans received a glimmer of hope that the tight end could still return. On Monday, Drew Rosenhaus, Gronk’s agent, said he wouldn’t be surprised if his high-profile client makes a return to the Patriots sometime this coming season.
When approached by The Providence Journal at the NFL Owners Meetings, Rosenhaus said he didn’t want to falsely get fans' hopes up, but he speculated that Gronk could return sometime in 2019.
“It’s nothing that we talked about. I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up that that’s what Rob’s thinking,” Rosenhaus said from the Arizona Biltmore resort. “He’s thinking he’s retired. He’s going to have a lot of opportunities. A lot of exciting things are going on. [It’s] just me speculating that I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to come back and play at some point in his career. He’s so young. If he’s at the point where he’s feeling good and he gets the urge, it wouldn’t surprise me. It’s not uncommon.”
Rosenhaus is right. Other players have come back after retiring. Last season, long-time Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten worked as a color analyst for ESPN's "Monday Night Football." After spending one season away from football, Witten announced in February that he was ending his retirement and signed a deal with Dallas.
Other players who have come out of retirement include Marshawn Lynch, Randy Moss and Brett Favre.
The Patriots even convinced running back Steven Jackson to come out of his brief retirement at the tail end of the 2015 season. Of course, taking a break and then returning to the game of football isn’t easy. One veteran, however, thinks it could work for Gronkowski.
Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald said on Monday here that an extended break could actually help the tight end and the Patriots.
“Have you see that guy? I think he’ll be just fine,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s nothing wrong with missing a couple of weeks of training camp and get to the bye. How fresh he would be coming off [that layoff], I mean, I think that could be a secret weapon for them down the stretch.”
This offseason has been an interesting one for Gronk. Although he thought about retirement last offseason, his decision was unknown for months. In fact, even Rosenhaus thought Gronkowski was returning. The agent traveled to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine in February thinking that Gronk would be returning to the Patriots.
“At first, I thought he was going to play,” Rosenhaus said. “And then the longer he took to make a decision, I started to think he wasn’t. I was feeling around the time of the combine that he was going to come back. So, I’m a little bit surprised.”
This month, Rosenhaus and Gronk talked on the phone several times each week. Finally, he called Gronk last week and told him he should give the Patriots an answer. After all, the Patriots needed to know in order to build their roster.
Finally, on Sunday, Rosenhaus’ phone rang.
“[Gronk] called me in the afternoon. … He said that this was his decision. Pretty much said that he’s going to go from here,” Rosenhaus said. “He didn’t have any set plans. He’s going to continue to relax and have fun and see where it takes him. This is the first time he doesn’t have football or anything structured. He’s enjoying that freedom.”
Gronkowski also talked with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick before making the announcement on Instagram. As of now, Rosenhaus says Gronk’s going to enjoy this next chapter. Although it’s been speculated that he might join the WWE or get into acting, Gronkowski’s next step isn’t known.
“He’s going to have a lot of opportunities, man. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does a little bit of everything,” Rosenhaus said. “He’s going to have a lot of options and a chance to make a lot of money doing it. He’s not hurting for money. He walked away from $10 million this year with the team. For him, the sky’s the limit, but I don’t have an idea yet. I just know he’s going to have a lot on his plate.”
And who knows, maybe even more football.