So far, 2020 has been a wild year for the world. It goes without saying that COVID-19 has touched every facet of our lives, but in the past few days, football fans have been heavily distracted from reality. On Tuesday April 21, it was announced that the New England Patriots traded tight end Rob Gronkowski and a seventh-round draft pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a fourth-round pick. This monumental trade means that a reunion with quarterback Tom Brady isn’t a far-fetched idea anymore. The trade was soon confirmed by Gronkowski’s agent Drew Rosenhaus to CBS Sports.
Gronkowski was drafted by the Patriots in the middle of the second-round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Arizona State University, where he had missed his junior season because of back surgery. Despite falling to the second-round, Gronkowski was still a highly touted prospect due to his physicality and big-play ability.
According to ESPN, in his rookie year Gronkowski did not miss a single game or practice. He ultimately ended up playing 74 percent of the offensive snaps, more than any other receiver or tight end in the NFL. In his second season, Gronkowski had a breakout year with the Patriots and broke both the record for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns by a tight end in a season.
In the following seasons Gronkowski continued to make fully grown men look like children on the football field. His incredible combination of size, speed and catching ability led him to quickly become the NFL’s premier tight end. He ran routes like a wide receiver but blocked defenders as if he were an offensive lineman. Paired with legendary quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, Gronkowski and the Patriots appeared in five Super Bowls, winning three of them.
Unfortunately for Gronkowski, he had to manage several injuries over his Patriots career including a torn ACL and MCL, strained hamstrings and continuing back issues. His large frame and punishing play style contributed to his troubles, but the ACL/MCL injury came as a result of a questionable play by Cleveland Browns safety T.J. Ward in a 2013 regular season game.
In terms of accolades that Gronkowski accrued during his nine-year stint with the Patriots, he has them all. Five Pro Bowl selections and four AP First-team All-Pro team selections, plus he was chosen for both the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team and 100th anniversary All-Time Team.
In March 2019, just a month after securing his third Super Bowl championship, Gronkowski announced that he was retiring. After only nine seasons in the NFL, the 29-year-old cited health issues and mental exhaustion as his reason for retirement. Football fans everywhere collectively sighed out of sadness for the loss of one of the NFL’s most entertaining players. In the 2019 season, there was an eerie lack of “Gronk Spikes” and other huge plays by the tight end.
In March 2020, after 20 seasons with the Patriots, Tom Brady decided to change scenery and signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This announcement was what people have been waiting many years for, as now we get to see if Tom Brady can perform at the same championship level without Belichick. Whispers immediately began to swirl around the football world that Gronkowski would return from retirement and force the Patriots to trade him to the Buccaneers. This seemed like a longshot possibility, but then it really happened. With his physical passed, Gronkowski is officially back in the NFL and is ready to prove that he and Brady do not need Belichick to succeed.
As 2020 progresses, we are being hit with surprise after surprise. Luckily for us, this surprise isn’t something that will make the world a scarier place. This surprise signals the return of one of the most electrifying players the NFL has ever seen. If the 2020 season continues as scheduled, football fans can expect the Buccaneers offense to be more explosive than ever and make a run at a Super Bowl Championship.