The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ acquisition of tight end Rob Gronkowski this offseason reunites Tom Brady with his favorite target of all time.
Brady, the six-time Super Bowl champion who signed with the Bucs this offseason after 20 years with the Patriots, struggled mightily without Gronk last year. The return of one of the game’s greatest tight ends should have Brady’s numbers on the up-and-up in 2020.
But Gronk’s return to the NFL isn’t without its share of controversy — Madden controversy that is.
Last week, the player ratings for Madden NFL 21 were released ahead of the game’s release next month, and Gronk’s player rating of 95 raised more than a few eyebrows. Even his own teammates couldn’t believe it! Adam Rank over at NFL.com had Gronk at No. 2 on his list of the ten most egregiously off-base player ratings in Madden NFL 21.
Per Rank:
“Like I said, this list includes the good. And the bad. I’m a huge fan of Gronk, who is probably the greatest tight end in NFL history. (If you want to say Tony Gonzalez actually holds that title, that’s fine. But it’s also not the point.) The thing is, Gronk, who came out of retirement to join Tom Brady on the Bucs, did not play NFL football last year. And yet, he has a higher Madden rating than reigning MVP Lamar Jackson (94). I might have R-Truth, the man who beat Gronk for the WWE 24/7 title, rated higher than Gronk at this point. And this is downright disrespectful to Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, who is rated a 90.”
As much as I love Gronk, there is no way he deserves to be a 95, at least not right now. Even a 90 rating would’ve been a stretch. 88 feels like the right number for a guy who’s been away from the game for a year.
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