Ian Rapoport Breaks Down Return New England Patriots Could Get For Gronkowski’s Trade

Ian Rapoport shared his take on the Rob Gronkowski trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronk decided to come out of his retirement and join Tom Brady. That’s exactly what happened. Gronk went to Belichick and Kraft and told them that he wants to come back. However, the only way to do that was to play with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He asked them to work out a trade deal with the Bucs. This deal will give the Patriots a fourth-round pick. The Bucs will get Gronk and a seventh-rounder. The Patriots may be getting a nice player in return, but Gronkowski’s trade was a surprise.

Rapoport had an interesting backstory to share about the trade deal during a Wednesday interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”

According to his story, Rapoprt started hearing rumors right after Brady went to Tampa. A lot of other reporters heard the rumors. There was a new story every other day.

The Patriots approved Gronkowski’s trade

The former Patriots quarterback reportedly told teams about potentially acquiring Gronk during his free agent process in March.

Brady told teams in the process who were actually interested and made offers, that he wanted to play with Gronk. That was the base of pretty much every rumor. The tight end still needed to actually express his desire to come back. He needed to be ready to return to the field.

Rapoport got a call yesterday that made him check on the story. In six minutes, he tweeted it. Three different people called him right after the tweet. It turns out that the rumor became a real story in just a few minutes. This was the fastest developing story the world of sports has ever seen.

By that point, New England and Tampa were already deep in talks. The teams were already working on a deal. Believe it or not, Gronk had already taken his physical. Everyone was just waiting for the results. As you can see, Gronk passed the physical. Gronk left the door open and yes, he is coming back now. Tampa Bay just got the most talented tight end to ever play the game. Gronk and Brady have won three Super Bowls together.