The New England Patriots' passing game suffered a crushing blow earlier this offseason when tight end Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement, and now, the Patriots are figuring out how to get by without him.
Safety Devin McCourty doesn't know how New England will do that just yet, but is in wait and see mode as to how the team will adjust.
“We don’t know. We’ll see,” McCourty said, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “Obviously, a huge part of the organization for nine years. I got to come in here with him as a rookie and go through a lot together, but we’ll see how it goes. I think that’s the thing in football — the one thing that’s consistent is change. We all know it’s going to happen. I’m excited to go into this year. He looks like he’s having an awesome time on Instagram. I’m really happy for him being able to have a great career and leave the game on your own terms. We’ll see how it works out for us.”
Of course, there has been rampant speculation that Gronkowski won't actually stay retired, speculation that has only been fueled by half-joking comments from Gronk about potentially coming back and the fact that he has working out with Tom Brady in California earlier this month.
But, until Gronkowski officially says he is returning (and who knows if that will ever happen), the Patriots must operate under the assumption that he won't be around for 2019.
The 30-year-old is coming off of a 2018 campaign in which he hauled in 47 receptions for 682 yards and three touchdowns and battled nagging injuries throughout the season.
While Gronkowski ended up making some big catches en route to the Patriots winning their sixth Super Bowl, it was blatantly obvious that he was a mere shell of himself for most of the year.
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