Rob Gronkowski gives clear verdict on retirement after 4x Super Bowl champ’s comeback rumors

Rob Gronkowski is setting the record straight amid rumours that he may be coming out of retirement once again.

Fox Sports insider Jordan Schultz asked the four-time Super Bowl champion if he was returning to play in the NFL. This was Gronk’s response:

"Crazy bro. They must know something about me that I don’t. I wish I still had those powers, because that would be cool if I did. But I was just in Australia for a few days. Now, it’s time to relax a little. No football."

Denversports.com initially came out with the story on Tuesday that the former New England Patriot and Tampa Bay Buccaneer was considering returning to join Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos.

Gronk initially retired in March 2019 because of all the pain and injuries he had taken in his first nine seasons in the league and the toll that took on his mental health.

Over that span, the tight end had spent his share of time rehabilitating from numerous issues, including broken ribs, back spasms and concussions to knee and MCL tears, among others.

However, just over a year after making that announcement, he changed his mind and came back to reunite with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay.

In his return season, he helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history, catching two touchdown passes from Brady in a 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021.

The former four-time First-team All-Pro signed on to play one more season in Tampa. He made 55 catches for 802 yards in the 2021 campaign, his best receiving total since 2017 with the New England Patriots (1,084).

He retired for a second time in June 2022 and hasn’t played in the league since.

Rob Gronkowski’s records

Coming back for a third time at 35 wouldn’t be completely unrealistic; however, given everything he’s achieved, it’d be hard to imagine why he’d want to do it again.

Gronk got the most career touchdowns in Patriots’ history (79), along with the most games with multiple scores (16) and the most games with 100+ yards receiving by a tight end (26) in the club’s history. He also became the first tight end in NFL history to lead the league in receiving touchdowns in 2011 (17).

The five-time Pro Bowler has won four Super Bowls, three with the Patriots and one in Tampa, all with Brady. That duo have linked up for 14 post-season touchdowns, a league record, surpassing Joe Montana and Jerry Rice (12).

In that last Super Bowl triumph, Gronk became the first player in NFL history to catch a pass in five different Super Bowl games.

Gronkowski and Brady both work for Fox Sports for their NFL coverage.