The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sure know how to make Tom Brady feel welcome. Not only did the team spend big money on Brady, with $50 million guaranteed over two years. But the Bucs also went out and got Brady’s favorite pass-catcher: tight end Rob Gronkowski.
This was clearly no small task, even if the trade seemed to come together quickly. Brady and/or the Bucs had to convince Gronk to come out of retirement. The tight end and/or his agent Drew Rosenhaus had to request a trade to Tampa, and the Patriots and Buccaneers had to agree to a satisfactory deal. Ultimately, Bill Belichick sent Gronk and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers for a fourth-round pick.
A surreal situation gets even more strange.
Brady is a Buccaneer. Gronk will join him. Two of the greatest Patriots in history are no longer Patriots.
Rob Gronkowski comes out of retirement to join Tom Brady and the @Buccaneers.
Without Gronkowski last season, Brady completed fewer than 10 passes when targeting tight ends 10+ yards downfield (8). In 2018, Brady completed almost 3x as many passes to Gronkowski alone (22). https://t.co/mrzO0gCMQw pic.twitter.com/iml1obUEQK
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) April 21, 2020
Brady has to be pleased. Gronk may have been in decline when he decided to retire after the 2018 season, but his numbers were still better — with the exception of touchdowns (3) — than the career highs of O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. So the Bucs upgrade at tight end, a position where they already had solid talent. Brady will also be throwing to elite receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. It’s an absurd depth chart of skill players.
That’s a stark contrast to what Brady had in New England at the end of 2019. At receiver, Brady had an injured Julian Edelman and Mohamed Sanu with an inexperienced N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers. Tight end? Yeesh. Brady was looking at an expired Ben Watson and an unimpressive Matt LaCosse. That’s the same depth chart the Patriots have at this moment, too.
And that brings us to the biggest oddity in this trade: the Patriots didn’t land one of the Buccaneers’ tight ends. New England probably could have tried to target Howard or Brate. Instead Belichick settled for a fourth-round pick. The Patriots coach and general manager must not have thought highly of Howard, in particular, who is on the trading block. So for now, New England will again turn to LaCosse and Ryan Izzo. Of course, the Patriots could add talent in the draft, by trade or in free agency. But this seemed like a missed opportunity for New England to upgrade their weakest position.
Ultimately, the Patriots got a fourth-round pick that they didn’t think they’d get. And the only time they will see Gronk in 2019 is if the Patriots play the Bucs in the Super Bowl. So it shouldn’t burn them too badly. Maybe this will prove to be a win-win situation for New England and Tampa.
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