Rob Gronkowski

AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Patriots, Jets

Having ended their veteran quarterback search with a Ryan Fitzpatrick agreement, after pursuing Teddy Bridgewater and Tyrod Taylor, the Dolphins continue to embark on a rebuilding track. In fact, the word “tanking” came up during one of the team’s head coach interviews, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald notes. Chris Grier, as could be expected, denied the team will use 2019 to tank.

Often one of the most active teams during free agency, the Dolphins this year have parted ways with starters Ryan Tannehill, Josh Sitton, Ted Larsen, Andre Branch and Danny Amendola. They let Ja’Wuan James and Cameron Wake walk. This leads Salguero to the notion the Dolphins are indeed tanking with the prospect of being in best position to land a high 2020 draft pick and have cap space when that league year begins. As of now, early projections have the Dolphins at $107MM in 2020 cap space — second in the league behind the Cowboys. And with Dallas set to extend several young talents, Miami looks poised to lead that pack. Fitzpatrick has made at least eight starts in a season nine times; his teams finished with a winning record in one of those seasons. Sunday’s move lends further credence the Dolphins are targeting the 2020 quarterback class.

Here is the latest from the AFC East:

  • Rob Gronkowski has not given the Patriots his decision on if he will continue his career in 2019, but if the future Hall of Famer wants an extension, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe notes this cannot happen until August 30 — a year after his previous contract adjustment, per an NFL rule. Long dissatisfied with a contract he agreed to in 2012, Gronkowski would be entering the final year of that deal if he returned for 2019. The Patriots could approach Gronk about a pay cut, however, at any point this offseason, per Volin. Gronkowski is due a $10MM salary and to count $11.86MM on the Patriots’ cap. The latest word on Gronk’s status is a return for a 10th season is more likely than a retirement.
  • Conversely, a Tom Brady extension can happen at any point this offseason. Since the Patriots did not adjust their quarterback’s cap number via the unmet incentives last year, Volin notes they can extend his contract before the 12-month mark from when the team included those incentives. Brady’s deal appears likely to be adjusted, with the 41-year-old passer’s contract-year cap figure sitting at $27MM.
  • Dialogue about the trade that moved the Jets up to last year’s No. 3 overall pick began at the 2018 Senior Bowl, with Jets VP of player personnel Brian Heimerdinger approaching Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds that January about a possible trade, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com notes. Christopher Johnson emphasized the Jets focus on quarterback scouting in 2017, primarily Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. The Jets targeted No. 3 overall because their sources indicated to them the Giants were zeroing in on Saquon Barkley, Cimini adds. Gang Green put its plan B into action a year ago today after Kirk Cousins spurned them.
  • The Dolphins are interested in acquiring a fullback, which marks a change from recent years. Specifically, they are exploring the addition of Michael Burton, per Salguero. Burton was Pro Football Focus’ No. 2-rated fullback last season but only played 49 snaps, not enough to qualify for full-time status. Only five fullbacks did meet those standards, illustrating this position’s scarcity on most teams. If not Burton, a four-year veteran who has played in Detroit and Chicago, Miami may target another UFA blocking back.
  • Prior to LaAdrian Waddle signing with the Bills, the Patriots conveyed interest in bringing him back, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com notes. The Pats kept an open dialogue with their swing tackle but were not willing to match the Bills’ offer, Reiss adds.

Rob Gronkowski Leaning Towards Returning?

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reports that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski may be leaning towards a return in 2019 (video link). Agent Drew Rosenhaus said that he spoke with Gronk recently but that the star tight end still has not made a firm decision.

However, Rapoport says that other people close to Gronkowski believe it is more likely he plays next season, and that he will put off retirement for at least one more year. The Patriots are also tentatively planning to have the soon-to-be 30-year-old suit up for them in 2019.

Rapoport indicates that New England has been involved in the tight end market to some degree over the past couple of days, but it does not sound as if they are anxiously seeking a Gronkowski replacement (not that there are too many intriguing TEs available anyway). Combined with several reports we heard back in February, it is looking more and more like Tom Brady will have one of his best weapons back as he seeks his seventh Super Bowl championship.

Rob Gronkowski Decision Expected In Next Several Weeks

One of the biggest storylines of the offseason is whether Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will call it a career or if he will rejoin the defending champs for at least one more season. He said in the aftermath of Super Bowl LIII that he would make his decision in a week or two, but we are now more than two weeks removed from the Super Bowl, and we still don’t have an answer.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus, though, said Gronk will decide soon. Rosenhaus said, “He’s thinking it through, he’s giving it a lot of thought… I imagine a decision will happen in the next couple of weeks” (Twitter link via ESPN NFL Insider Field Yates).

Of course, it makes sense for anyone to take their time when making a decision of this magnitude, but the delay could also suggest that recent events have changed Gronkowski’s thought process. A report back in January suggested that he was leaning towards retirement, which came on the heels of a separate report at the end of December indicating that Gronk had grown tired of the “Patriot Way.”

But winning cures a lot of ills, and there figures to be much less drama in Foxborough in 2019 than there was last year. Just two days ago, we heard that Gronkowski is spending plenty of time at Gillette Stadium these days, and that his feeling towards the Pats are very positive at the moment. Plus, quarterback Tom Brady will be back in 2019, and Gronkowski was able to finish the 2018 campaign healthy, both of which are primary factors in his decision.

Patriots Notes: Gordon, Gronk, Slater, Jones

The Patriots will end up getting a 2019 seventh-round pick out of the Josh Gordon trade, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. It was initially reported that New England sent a fifth-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for Gordon, and that a seventh-rounder would be coming back to the Pats if Gordon was unable to play 10 games with the club in 2018. Although Gordon ended up playing 11 games for New England before being suspended again, Reiss says the 10-game condition was lifted and that the Patriots will get the 29th pick in the seventh round.

Now for more news and notes from the Super Bowl champs:

  • Tight end Rob Gronkowski has been at Gillette Stadium multiple times over the last couple of weeks, and while he may only be there to continue treatment on his thigh, Reiss believes Gronk’s presence is reflective of the good relationship between him and the team at the moment and of Gronkowski’s overall positive feelings towards the Patriots. Although he may still retire, his current state of mind is good news for Pats fans who would like to see him back in 2019.
  • Matthew Slater is due a $400K roster bonus on March 13, and assuming he is still on the roster at that point, the team’s 2019 option — which calls for a $1.6MM base salary — will be automatically exercised. Reiss believes that is a reasonable price for a special teams ace like Slater, and that the 33-year-old will be back in Foxborough next season.
  • Reiss also believes tight end Dwayne Allen could be back, as the team admires his professionalism and work ethic, but he will obviously need to accept a pay cut; he is due a $6.4MM base salary in 2019.
  • Cornerback Jonathan Jones proved his value to the Patriots in this year’s playoffs, and he is eligible for restricted free agency in March. As Reiss observes, the Patriots could tender him at the second-round level, which would entitle him to a salary of $3.1MM, or at the low level, which calls for a $2MM salary. But if they go with the latter option, they risk losing Jones without getting any draft compensation in return, so Reiss suggests that the two sides could explore a long-term deal before free agency opens.
  • Zack Cox of NESN.com believes LT Trent Brown will get a contract on the free agent market that the Patriots cannot compete with, and that the team will need to turn to 2018 first-rounder Isaiah Wynn to replace him. Wynn, of course, missed his entire rookie campaign due to a torn Achilles he suffered last preseason.
  • Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels received only tepid interest on the head coaching market this year, but Ben Volin of the Boston Globe says McDaniels’ excellent work in engineering the Patriots’ Super Bowl run will put him firmly back on the HC radar in 2020.
  • The Patriots have once again surfaced as a potential home for Colin Kaepernick.

Poll: Will Rob Gronkowski Return In 2019?

Rob Gronkowski‘s decision on playing a 10th season is expected to come as soon as this week. On the heels of his third Super Bowl ring, Gronk exited the Patriots’ victory healthy after another injury-plagued season.

A report linked Gronkowski to having a better outlook on playing in 2019 if he was healthy at season’s end and if Tom Brady was committed to another season. Both of these came to fruition, adding intrigue to this decision. In January, Gronk was leaning toward retiring. Is he now?

The best tight end of his generation and perhaps the most dominant tight end in NFL history, Gronk has yet to turn 30. But his body has betrayed him many times over. Ankle and back injuries limited him to 13 games this season, and he missed a game because of injury in 2017. Gronkowski missed major chunks of the 2012, ’13 and ’16 slates as well. He has not played a 16-game season since 2011, and it would be unreasonable to expect 16 Gronk games again.

While Gronk and Bill Belichick were understandably giddy after the Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII conquest, the former has long been unhappy about his contract.

Agreed to in 2012, Gronk’s deal paid him well below market value for a player with his gifts. At his best, no tight end was on the same level. Yet some out-earned him. Elite wide receivers were earning millions more than Gronk, who arguably impacted games more than any skill-position player for a while. This led to frequent acrimony, two incentive packages — one of which he attained — along with 2018 retirement talk and a general disenchantment toward the Patriot Way.

Will the Patriots want Gronk back? Although he has been underpaid, his contract jumps to a career-high $11.859MM cap figure in 2019. His 2018 numbers — 52.5 receiving yards per game, three touchdowns — were well south of almost anything he posted in his previous eight seasons. Considering Gronkowski’s attitude about his deal in the past, it would be incredibly unlikely he would take a pay cut to stay with the Patriots. The Pats nearly traded him to the Lions last year, prompting a retirement threat.

With Gronk having slowed down, it is fair to wonder if the Patriots ($16.1MM in projected cap space, prior to an expected Brady extension) would want to carry his contract-year cap number on their payroll. That said, Gronkowski remains one of the league’s best tight ends. He came through with big playoff catches en route to the franchise’s latest championship. Brady’s late-career renaissance can be closely tied to Gronkowski’s incomparable presence, and although the four-time first-team All-Pro was out during the bulk of the Pats’ 2016 title run, Martellus Bennett was there to help. The Patriots do not have a comparable alternative on their current roster.

So, will the future Hall of Fame tight end call it quits? Or were these productive playoff games a springboard to at least one more season? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section.

Patriots’ Gronk To Make Decision Soon

We’re still waiting for Rob Gronkowski‘s decision on his football future, but we won’t have to wait much longer. The tight end says he’ll make the call “in a week or two,” (via Jim Trotter of NFL.com).

When pressed about his plans, Gronk said that Sunday night was dedicated to celebrating the Super Bowl victory with his teammates. He’s been wrestling with retirement for a while now, however, and that’s partially due to his injury history. He emerged from Super Bowl LIII without suffering further injury and Tom Brady swears that he’ll be back in 2019 – both of those factors may push Gronk towards returning for the 2019 season.

In 2018, Gronkowski played through Achilles tendonitis and a bulging disc in his back. He has also been forced to suit up with a Barry Bonds-type arm brace to protect his left elbow.

Gronkowski is due a $9MM base salary next season, the last year of his current deal. It has been rumored that Gronkowski is eyeing a post-football career that includes acting and/or something fitness-related, but those opportunities should still be there for him after the ’19 campaign.

The 29-year-old (30 in May) was limited to just 47 catches for 682 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games season. The Rams did their best to keep a lid on him on Sunday, but he finished out with six catches for 87 yards, including a crucial red zone catch that led to the game’s only TD.

No Rob Gronkowski Retirement Decision Expected Tonight

Tonight’s Super Bowl may be the last NFL game for Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, but do not expect him to confirm his intentions one way or another right away. Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Gronk does not plan to make an announcement in the immediate aftermath of the Super Bowl, and Florio’s source suggests that the 29-year-old will spend some time considering his options.

We have recently heard that Gronkowski may be leaning towards retirement, and part of that is due to his rather significant injury history. Indeed, Florio writes that there are two primary factors that will influence Gronk’s decision: whether Gronkowski emerges from Super Bowl LIII healthy, and whether Tom Brady makes good on his vow to return for 2019.

The latter seems to be a given in light of everything we have heard about Brady’s intentions going forward, but Gronk’s health is a bigger question. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes that Gronkowski’s relative lack of production this season can be at least partially attributed to the Achilles tendonitis and the bulging disc in his back that he battled in 2018, but that he is feeling 100 percent today.

Gronkowski is due a $9MM base salary next season, the last year of his current deal, and it’s not as though the post-football career he anticipates won’t be there for him in 2020 if he chooses to play in 2019. Contrary to previous reports, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com says that, while Gronkowski is not sure what he wants to do when he’s done playing football, he believes it will somehow be tied to the world of fitness.

Patriots Rumors: Gordon, McDaniels, Gronk

Here’s a look at the Patriots as they get set for the Super Bowl:

  • The Patriots are gearing up for the Super Bowl in Atlanta, but Josh Gordon is miles away at an inpatient facility in Florida, a source tells Doug Kyed of NESN.com. The Patriots are paying for Gordon’s treatment, which may be a sign that a return is possible. For what it’s worth, the receiver will get a ring if the Pats are victorious on Sunday.
  • Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels says he regrets his handling of the Colts situation last year, as Charean Williams of PFT writes. “It’s a lot that goes into it,” McDaniels said. “I think at the end of the day you have to make the best decision for yourself and your family. I’ve said this a number of times: The timing of all that stuff was not. . . . I wasn’t proud of any of that stuff.” McDaniels likely paid the price for his flip-flop in this past cycle. There were eight head coaching vacancies, but McDaniels only landed an interview with the Packers and declined to speak with the Bengals.
  • The Rob Gronkowski retirement chatter is picking up steam again, but the tight end pretty much offered a no-answer when asked if the Super Bowl will be his last game. “I don’t know,” Gronkowski said when asked about his plans (via PFT).

AFC Notes: Patriots, Gronk, Colts

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.

Rob Gronkowski Leaning Towards Retirement?

Last year, Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski contemplated retirement. This year, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that Gronk will once again consider hanging up the cleats, but this time, there is a better chance he will actually walk away from the game.

Before the 2018 draft, New England reportedly had a trade in place that would have sent Gronkowski to the Lions, but when Gronk learned of that news, he threatened to retire rather than play for another club. Of course, there has been some drama between Gronkowski and the Patriots for several years now, some of which may be attributed to the fact that Gronkowski believes he is severely underpaid.

Regardless of the source of tension, we heard at the end of last month that Gronkowski had grown tired of the “Patriot Way,” and underpaid or not, he is financially set. Plus, thanks to his effusive personality, he will have some sort of career outside of football if he so chooses.

The 29-year-old has once again battled injuries throughout the course of the 2018 campaign, and Rapoport says sources close to Gronk have said the season has taken an emotional toll on him. He certainly has not played up to his usual standards, with just three scores and a yards-per-game mark of 52.5 that is higher only than his rookie season figure of 34.1. Teams have largely stopped double-teaming him, and he just does not look like his usual explosive self.

So it would not be surprising to anyone if Gronkowski calls it a career and starts the next chapter of his life whenever the Patriots’ season ends.