New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has confirmed a recent report that he threatened to retire if a proposed deal to send him to the Detroit Lions in April went through.
When asked why he declined to join Detroit, Gronkowski said it had nothing to do with the Lions as an organization. He just didn’t want to play with another quarterback other than Tom Brady.
“Brady’s my quarterback. I wasn’t going anywhere without Brady,” Gronkowski said per Michael David Smith of PFT.
It’s not hard to fault Gronk for that decision. With all due respect to Matt Stafford, but going from arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time to anyone else would be a significant step down.
Gronk and Brady have developed quite a great chemistry over their nine years together in New England, and it’s brought both them and the team a lot of success. With Brady’s help, Gronkowski is a four-time All-Pro and a two-time Super Bowl champion. And apart from their on-field connection, they've likely developed quite a strong friendship off the field as well.
No one will know what would’ve happened to Gronk’s career while playing with another quarterback, but at his stage in his career, he didn’t want to find out. He likely wasn’t going to build anything quite like his connection with Brady with another quarterback again, whether it was in Detroit or anywhere else, and so he decided not to leave at all.
While it was disappointing for Detroit to miss out on such a generational talent, the Patriots will obviously be glad that arguably the greatest quarterback-tight end combination in league history has remained intact for at least one more season.
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