Just in case you thought the NFL’s off-season couldn’t get any crazier, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found a way to dominate the sport’s headlines once again. Rob Gronkowski, the retired tight end who had won a series of championships in New England with Tom Brady as his quarterback, seemed done with the game. He took a turn in WWE and appeared in the reality show The Masked Singer. Now he has come out of retirement, and New England has sent him south to Tampa Bay, in return for a fourth-round draft pick, and the Buccaneers seem set to trade the star tight end they already had, in O.J. Howard. Let’s take a closer look at this deal as you consider your sports betting odds for the NFL in the fall.
NFL News: Gronk Joins Brady in Tampa Bay
Why on earth would the Buccaneers do this deal? Well, they inked Tom Brady to a two-year, $50 million deal, and an unwritten part of that deal gave Brady a great deal of control over personnel decisions. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Rob Gronkowski got in touch with his agent and let him know he would come out of retirement to play with his former quarterback now that Brady had cut ties with Bill Belichick.
There are a lot of negatives for the Buccaneers. They had a stellar tight end in O.J. Howard, an athletic player who could run clean routes and could help with the run-blocking game as well. He could easily put up huge numbers catching balls in the middle of the field. He is 6’6” and 242 pounds — and he can run a 4.52 40. The only negative that Howard has is that his hands can turn into frying pans, and on-target passes can clank off them.
Then there’s the fact that, over his last three seasons as a Patriot, Gronkowski missed 13 games. The back problems that he had already developed are not going away and only will worsen as time goes by. His injuries include a fractured forearm, a torn ACL and MCL (one play), a lung bruise, a herniated disc, a hamstring pull, the aforementioned back fracture, and several concussions.
Now, let’s talk about the positives. He is still only 30 years old. He has worked himself into excellent shape. If you look at his highlights, you see him pulling in balls in traffic, making would-be tacklers look like traffic cones and kicking his speed into high gear to hit the end zone.
What does Tampa Bay spend? Well, Rob is owed $10 million on his contract for 2020 (when you come out of retirement, the contract you had when you left becomes valid again.
However, if you’re Tampa Bay, you’re looking to breathe as much as energy as you can into a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in a dozen years. The Buccaneers enter their second year under Bruce Arians, a coach who likes to run his offense with plays down the field — and Gronk was capable of getting separation from linebackers and safeties.
You’ve also got a fan base that is ready for success after watching Jameis Winston throw 30 interceptions last year. Yes, he also led the league in passing yards and had more than 30 touchdown passes, but those awful decisions are what has kept Tampa Bay out of the playoffs. Maybe a change of scene will be what Winston needs, because it was clear that he had hit his ceiling in Tampa Bay. Adding Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski will definitely keep Tampa Bay in the headlines. Will Brady have more patience in the pocket than he did last year? Will he show his form from two seasons ago? Or was his regression last year a real thing? Will Gronk be explosive on the field after some time away from the game? Has he kept his conditioning up enough to adapt back to NFL game speed? Or will he flame out, either with an early injury or because it’s clear that he’s no longer ready for pro football? We will see — but for the Buccaneers, the publicity is already worth the money they’ve spent.
