Rumblings Emerge That Rob Gronkowski May Retire After 2018

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is not playing his best football, and latest rumors say that he may retire after the 2018 season.

The whole thing started before the Patriots Week 10 contest with the Tennessee Titans. Everyone started talking about Rob Gronkowski and his future with the Patriots.

Pro Football Talk Mike Florio was the first to talk about Gronk’s possible retirement.

“When the Super Bowl ended and he was asked about rumors of a possible retirement, his first comment was I don’t know how you heard about that, which implies a lot. I think if the Patriots had won the Super Bowl he would have retired. And I think after this season, which has been very disappointing for him and it is his second straight year with a significant incentive package that we’re probably close to saying he’s not going to hit any of the four markers which each make him $1.1 million and he can make a maximum of $3.3 million that way,” Florio said.

“I think that will be a factor in his ultimate decision and the fact he had a chance to play somewhere else and didn’t want to, I think there’s a good chance he just walks away after this year unless the Patriots are willing to rip up the last year of that contract and give him some form of security that is not tied to being healthy and producing on the field.”

The tight end did not play against the Titans due to his back and ankle injury.

NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran said that Gronk is probably going to put an end to his professional career.

“I didn’t expect him to play this week. Just as the week wore along just more and more talk of have this week, then the bye week, then the time off — should bring him back for a stretch run where he should be able to be approaching effectiveness. Now, how close can he get to that level of effectiveness with the ankle and the back, and I think it is more the ankle than the back at this juncture, we’ll see,” Curran said.