The Patriots are heading to the Super Bowl, and Super Bowl LIII might be the final game for Rob Gronkowski. We’ve heard for a while now that Gronkowski is considering retirement even more seriously than he did last season, and we got even more confirmation of that today. There is a “strong possibility” that Gronkowski retires this offseason in order to pursue an acting career, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter video). He’s flirted with retirement in the past, but given his declining on field production this year for the Patriots, it feels more real. If it really is the end for Gronk, he’ll go down as one of, if not the, best tight end in NFL history.
Here’s more from around the league:
- It’s been reported that GM Chris Ballard would like the Colts to add another talented wide receiver to pair with T.Y. Hilton, but don’t expect them to be in on the Antonio Brown sweepstakes this offseason, writes Stephen Holder of The Athletic. It’s unclear if the Steelers would even want to deal Brown to Indianapolis, as they’d likely prefer to trade him out of conference to the NFC.
- Adam Gase has already hired Gregg Williams to be his defensive coordinator with the Jets, but the team still has a vacancy at offensive coordinator. “All signs point to” Gase bringing in Dowell Loggains to be his new OC, according to Daryl Slater of NJ.com. Loggains has worked under Gase both in Chicago and Miami, so it’s not surprising he’s tagging along to the Big Apple. Either way, Gase will likely be the offensive play-caller in New York.
- Speaking of the Jets, Slater writes separately in the same post that Josh McCown is “definitely not coming back” next year. McCown became a fan favorite during the 2017 season when he helped the team beat expectations as the starter, and got a lot of praise for his work mentoring Sam Darnold this past year. But his ties were to Todd Bowles and the previous coaching staff, and with Gase now in charge, he’s apparently unlikely to spend a second straight year mentoring.
Gronk would end up well behind Tony Gonzalez on longevity alone.
Barry Sanders didn’t play as long as Emmit Smith but you won’t hear anyone outside of Dallas saying Smith is better. Gronk might not play as long as Gonzalez but it’s undeniable that he made a bigger impact on his career than Gonzalez ever did
There’s a lot of people outside of Dallas that say Emmitt was better.
Think he meant outside of Dallas “fans”. Barry Sanders was clearly the better player.
So Calvin Johnson was better than Jerry Rice because he had a better season?
No, Calvin Johnson was not better than Jerry Rice. Rice was the better player, and the best receiver to ever play the game. Emmett Smith is the best statistical running back to ever play, but whenever Sanders took the field he was the best and most explosive back on the field. Emmett played longer, always “got his numbers”, and played behind an excellent offensive life, with a HOF QB and WR. Smith had many more advantages than Barry Sanders, but Sanders was the better and more talented player.
Don’t forget Walter Payton
and Jim Brown in that conversation as well!
Jim Brown never missed a game
I was stating that those were 2 of the greatest at their respected positions !
I didn’t make that argument. Mine is Tony Gonzalez over Gronk.
Gronk was clearly the better player. He was extremely dominant and for a while was one of the best players in the league.
I was making a comparison. Sanders is better than Smith even though he didn’t play as long. Same goes for Gronk and Gonzalez
Yea… you arent winning that argument using Sanders over Smith.
I didn’t know there were actual football fans that believe Smith is a better running back than Sanders.
Sanders was a far better running back than Smith!
Give Gonzalez a Brady type QB and that gap increases even more so.
Written is right up there as well. Best blocker of the bunch by far.
Huh? You mean Gronk is the best blocker of the bunch, right?
Colts need another good receiver, but as good as Antonio Brown is, he’s too much of a “me” player, just like LaVeon Bell. Don’t need that on your team, period.
They don’t need bell. Mack proved he had the potential to be a top 10 rb. They should sign kelvin benjamin to the deal they signed ebron to (2yr 10m) and see if anything is left and he is a good complement to ty Hilton because of his size.
He’s not implying that they need Bell. Simply stating he’s a “me” type player like Brown.
Guy touches the ball 400 times in a year and wants to negotiate a long term deal with GUARANTEED money, that makes him a “Me” player? What a bunch of idiots
No, what makes him a “Me” player is abandoning his teammates because he wasn’t getting the deal he wanted for himself. Right or wrong, that was all about him.
“Abandoning his teammates” is the stupidest argument possible. FOOTBALL IS A BUSINESS played by individual players that make up a team. You damn right it’s all about him and making a BUSINESS decision for him and his family. Heaven forbid a player ask for what they think they are worth, just like people in other industries in the US. Don’t you dare ask for a raise, leave your company for a better paying company, or you will be labeled selfish, or not a “company” man. Just a “ME” employee.
But he already had a SIGNED contract to play for this year! That’s breach of contract !
Lol. He got tagged and didn’t sign it, so no he signed no contract.
He was against the Steelers abusing his body with 400+ touches and then letting him fly off into FA having gotten a great deal out of it.
Thank you USD! If he was “under contract” they could’ve fined him for not showing up, traded him, but that wasn’t the case.
So you are saying Bell was so much better than everyone else, he didn’t have to follow the same rules? Hmmm
Yup! Right about contract ! But he still should’ve went by the “TAG”
But he could’ve been a better teammate
and $14 million richer! LoL
Bell Broke no rules. He doesn’t owe The Players/Organization anything, if they couldn’t come to an agreement. The organization could’ve made a better offer, but didn’t. WHY are you worried about what this man could’ve made? You think he doesn’t know he could’ve made 14mil? Obviously he didn’t have a problem not collecting it. It seems people like you are more worried about his wallet than he is.
People like “YOU?” LoL! It’s morons like you who assume that you know me
and think(?) that you are an expert on everything
and that you are never wrong !
lol here’s this moron again @tsolid
My feeling a really hurt. Can’t you tell. Thanks for added value to the topic. I still think you should’ve been SWALLOWED
Lol Kelvin Benjamin
Lol talking down about Bell for being a “me” player but suggest they sign a slug in Kelvin Benjamin. Bell is a susperstar and the Steelers are not a playoff team without him. Colts have all the cap room in the world to add Bell and take the next step
Now is a good time to pick up Bell as other teams are dancing around about the season off. Bell will come back better than ever after a year without taking the hits. See HOF John Riggins’ career after a year off.
Don’t be foolish…Benjamin sucks. Waste of talent and size
Tonight’s Gronk looked close to prime Gronk, excellent blocks stepped up when needed if this is his last season hoping he has a game left in the tank. We can debate who’s the best TE all day long but at the end of the day he’s one of the best to do it and the only with over 1,000 receiving yards in the postseason.
Greatest Tight end ever?
DITKA
There is the famous video of a fan running onto the field to tell Mike he was the greatest. He got a whooping for his trouble…lol.
Gronks got more rings than the rest of the combined TE’s and owns more playoff records – end of debate.
Playing with the GOAT QB, you’re getting more playoff appearances thus more games thus more stats. His team made the playoffs 6 times out of 17 years. NE has never missed the playoffs during his career bc of Tom and Bill. He is the most physical of the top TEs.
He is on the 1990 to now Mount Rushmore. But I’d take Tony G over him. Gonzalez, Witten, Gates, Gronk.
However… an actor, no. His commercials are terrible enough. WWE is the acting hell be doing.
I was going to agree with you until you threw witten in there as better than Gronkowski. All witten did was play a long time and accumulate stats. In no way was witten even a game changer.
That wasn’t in order necessarily. But that’st he 90s-Now Mount Rushmore. Prob go Gonzo, Gronk, Witten, Gates.
I didn’t know Gronk played with Joe Montana !
After seeing Gase’s introductory press conference for the Jets, I had to go to YouTube to see if his eyes have always been like that. After watching a few interviews when he was with the Dolphins, it’s clear to me: this man was on some hard drugs at that press conference. So there is no doubt in my mind that he will do a much better job than Todd Bowles did.
Now I have to spend the rest of today trying to imagine what movie roles would best suit Gronk. Maybe he should wait until Brady retires and together they can resurrect the Starsky & Hutch classic better than Stiller and Wilson.
Over the Top 2
Sad. It will soon be forgotten but the refs again control the outcome. First the obvious one with the Saints. Then the personal foul on KC on fourth down and the overturn of the Edelman call with “clear and convincing.” These calls obviously affected the outcome. Not a fan of any of these teams but can the NFL get anything right or is the LA Pats matchup just too hard to exist?
First I don’t know how you can say the Edelman call wasn’t clear and convincing, but let’s not act like they didn’t miss calls on the Cheifs, blatant PI on the roughing the passer play, no call on the pick play that let KC score, no call on the PI at the end of the first half that would’ve still been a touchdown but you would’ve wanted to see it thrown. At the end of the day the refs sucked missed some calls for both teams. KC’s defense 1000% cost them the game
I would have thought that a Brady/Brees matchup would have been the “too hard to resist” matchup for the NFL and CBS…
The network hosting the Super Bowl is going to charge corporate sponsors millions for each 30 second commercial so they make out like bandits no matter which two teams battle for the championship.
So the refs lined up the kc player offsides?
Because that cost them the game but nice try
The personal foul call was terrible but the Edelman call was correct. It missed him by inches. The saints were robbed of two different calls.
Gronk may not be the statistically best TE ever, but he has been one of the biggest reasons why the position has been essentially redefined in the past decade.
No TE made a bigger difference in the game. Tony Gonz and A. Gates never blocked the way Gronk did. If you just read stats you clearly dont understand the game.