What It Would Take For Rob Gronkowski To Make Another NFL Return

There's no doubt that Rob Gronkowski is a star. As fans of the former Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end know, Gronkowski (lovingly known as "Gronk") has followed in the footsteps of friend and mentor, quarterback Tom Brady. And much like Brady, Gronkowski has announced his retirement and changed his mind. The first time came in 2019 when the star was with the Patriots and he penned a lengthy Instagram post to share the news with fans. "It all started at 20 years old on stage at the NFL draft when my dream came true, and now here I am about to turn 30 in a few months with a decision I feel is the biggest of my life so far," he began the post before announcing his retirement.

But, according to ESPN, Gronkowski came out of retirement in 2020 to join Brady and the Bucs, thus ending his short-lived retirement. The two had a lot of success, taking home a Super Bowl trophy in 2021. But, Gronk took to Twitter in June 2022 to announce that he would once again hang up his cleats and leave the game that made him famous. "I want to thank the entire first-class Buccaneers organization for an amazing ride, trusting me to come back to play and help build a championship team," he wrote in the post, adding that he had his "head held high" because he "gave it everything" he had. So what's next? 

Is Rob Gronkowski officially dunzo? Well, he's setting the record straight himself instead of letting other people fuel the rumors. In an interview with TMZ Sports, via Twitter, the former NFL tight end spoke on the idea of returning to the NFL after the 2022-23 season. "I really didn't have the itch. It was about week 10, week 11, week 12 right around there where I was thinking about it," the star confessed, adding that he "never got the itch" but rather, "it was just a couple of thoughts."

Gronkowski didn't stop there and talked about what could be in the future. "I'm not gonna go ever back to football if I'm just thinking about it and don't really have that itch," he added. "That trigger was not going to be pulled to go back and play football this year... it was not there man." However, the star seemed to imply that money could play a factor in enticing him to return. "What if someone wanted to throw out a whole salary cap at me baby... or half of a salary cap," he said. "Then you've got to think about it, you've got to go back then."

Gronkowski's girlfriend, Camille Kostek, also discussed the possibility of Gronkowski returning to the field in June 2022. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, she said that she didn't think Gronk's decision to retire was a "forever one." Kostek added, "maybe he'll come back again."