Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski is one of the defining personalities and talents of his generation, and he only played for two teams in the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the course of his career.
However, Gronkowski recently told NFL Network’s Peter Schrager a fascinating story about how the Patriots almost traded him back in 2018 to the Detroit Lions.
The story, told with some bleeped-out NSFW language, involves Gronkowski having some “disconnect” with the Patriots. Apparently, a possible trade to the Lions almost materialized in 2018, but the tight end vetoed the deal.
Gronkowski added that a trade to any team at this time in his career would’ve sparked in an immediate retirement. We’ll let him take it from here.
Rob Gronkowski was almost traded to the Detroit Lions.
He wasn’t having it.
He tells the incredible story — with some bleeps— here, on this week’s episode of “The Season with Peter Schrager”.
@nflnetwork @NFLMedia @gmfb @RobGronkowski pic.twitter.com/Z1DcqPuZhv
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) July 26, 2023
That’s a fascinating “what could’ve been” situation for Gronkowski’s career, as his play indeed helped the Patriots win their last Super Bowl with the future Hall of Fame tight end and quarterback Tom Brady in 2019.
It’d have been something to see Gronk play with any other quarterback besides Brady, but this will just have to file itself away in the “almost” category of NFL history.