10 April 2023 , 15:42
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Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has squashed talk of a return to the NFL by insisting he is “happily retired”.
The 33-year-old retired in June 2022 as a four-time Super Bowl winner but many expected Gronkowski to come out of retirement, like he has already done once before in his career in 2019 to play with pal Tom Brady at the Bucs. But after sitting out the 2022 season, Gronkowski has stated his intention to stay retired for good this time.
“There's no chance anymore,” Gronk told TMZ Sports on talk of an NFL comeback. “I'm happily retired."
Instead, four-time All-Pro Gronk has taken up pickleball in order to stay competitive and beat his two brothers who have played with professionals. "I beat my brother, Chris, who plays with pros, and my other brother, Gordon, who plays with pros too!" he said. "And I beat 'em with an average Joe - my other brother, Glenn G, was my partner!"
"So, I'm happily retired," Gronk added. "I'm still competing, I'm still winning, so I don't even need to go back to football."
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The only football Gronkowski will be playing any time soon is against brother Chris at his old school, the University of Arizona, where he will be a team captain for the Wildcats' spring football game on April 15. Brother Chris will be captaining the other team in the Gronk Bowl.
Rob Gronkowski says he intends to stay retired and has ruled out a second NFL return (Getty)Gronkowski is a highly sought-after voice on all things Buccaneers and Patriots, and he weighed in on Baltimore Ravens’ wantaway star quarterback, Lamar Jackson. Gronk believes Jackson would be a good fit at the Patriots.
“I think he would be a good fit, in a way. But at the same time, I don’t think he would be a good fit. It kind of goes both ways,” Gronkowski told Kay Adams earlier this week on the “Up & Adams” show. “I feel like Coach Belichick always kind of dreamed of a quarterback -- not just a pocket passer, but a Lamar Jackson-type. The one that can be able to run the ball as well. I just feel like he likes those types of quarterbacks from all the times he talked about them in meetings and stuff when we were going against them.
“So, that’s why it would be a good fit. But it wouldn’t be a good fit at the same time because he has to pay him $ 50-plus million and he’s not paying $ 50-plus million for a quarterback. So, therefore it’s not a good fit off the bat because of that reason. So, I don’t think that’s going to go down at all.”