Rob Gronkowski spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career playing for the New England Patriots. He recorded 7,861 receiving yards and 79 touchdowns on 521 receptions, earning Pro Bowl honors five times and four first-team All-Pro selections.
Additionally, Gronkowski won three Super Bowl rings in New England. He retired after the 2018 season, only to unretire in 2020 and force a trade to Tampa Bay where he reunited with Tom Brady. Gronkowski added 100 receptions for 1,425 yards and 13 touchdowns in two seasons with the Buccaneers, adding a fourth Super Bowl ring to his trophy case.
The 36-year-old recently opened up on his decision to unretire and how that whole process played out during a podcast appearance.
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Rob Gronkowski Shares Why He Joined the Buccaneers
Gronkowski appeared on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast on May 20 and talked at length about his final years in New England, including what prompted his decision to come out of retirement and play for Tampa Bay. He even divulged an interesting nugget about almost being traded to the Detroit Lions.
Speaking to co-hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, Gronkowski was happy to take a quick trip down memory lane. The 2014 NFL Comeback Player of the Year was in a jovial mood as he recalled how everything went down in 2020.
“Well, everything had to check out for me. It wasn’t just one situation that was going to get me out of retirement,” Gronkowski told the podcast. “First off, I had to be feeling good again. I was really beat up those last two years in New England and it was getting tough on me playing on a weekly basis. The Sunday game, I couldn’t recover until the following Saturday. And then the practice and all that, it was just becoming miserable. I mean, everyone experiences that and that’s why everyone retires eventually.
“Because if you weren’t experiencing that and you were experiencing the joy of playing like when you’re 23, why the f**k would you retire? You know what I mean? So, when it starts getting miserable and hard, that’s when you want to walk away from the game and that’s what I did.”
Following his brief retirement in 2019, the Patriots traded Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Tampa Bay would go on to win a Super Bowl title that same year.
“I evolved, found different situations to recover, also different workouts that could keep me on top of my game,” Gronkowski said. “Also, kind of needed a different scenario, different program. So, when Tom [Brady] went to Tampa, we just talked about it a little bit. My mom lived down there. I loved Florida, totally different organization. Felt more laid back, definitely put the work in, but still more laid back like a country club.
“It wasn’t just Tom wanted me. The organization called me up, too, and they were like, ‘yeah, we definitely want you to be a part of the Buccaneers family’. I was feeling good. I felt like I had more left in the tank, so every box checked off. And then, obviously, with Tom going down there … to have that chemistry and just to keep it going in a new program. So, everything just fell my way, and I pulled the trigger to do it.”
Gronkowski added that towards the end of his tenure with the Patriots, he didn’t want to hit other players. Practices were growing tiresome and hard. There were high expectations in New England. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers allowed him to have one off-day a week during the regular season and take a rest day every three days during training camp.