There’s a chance Rob Gronkowski has played his last ever game in the NFL. The New England Patriots tight end was non-committal about whether he’d come back for the 2018 season following their Super Bowl defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, and said he’d take some time to decide upon his future.
When asked about Gronk’s comments, Patriots coach Bill Belichick points out that it’s not exactly out of the ordinary for players to go through a similar process following a draining season.
“At the end of every season, every person goes through somewhat of a process at the end of the season and then the following season,” Belichick said, via WEEI.com. “I think everyone that is involved in a NFL season, you get pretty drained especially after a season like this. [You] go through the end of the year process. The following year is the following year. It’s the same for everybody. I certainly can’t speak for anybody else. You’d have to ask any individual for every situation, but I would say five minutes after the game, or the day after the game is not really the time to make those decisions.”
Gronkowski, 28, remained relatively healthy this season as he played in 14 games. However, he still suffered another concussion during the AFC Championship Game. Despite being relatively young, he already has a lot of wear and tear on his body, which is enough for anyone to contemplate whether it’s worth coming back for another year.
But as Belichick notes, it might have just been the emotions of a tough Super Bowl defeat that were talking when Gronkowski hinted at his possible retirement. Once Gronk gets the chance to cool off and heal up following another grueling season, he’ll likely have a much better sense of what he really wants to do regarding his future. Whether or not he's still leaning toward retirement remains to be seen.
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