Rob Gronkowski Retires After 9th NFL Season

The New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is going out on top of the game. Gronkowski made the biggest play of Super Bowl LIII to help the New England Patriots win another championship. Gronk was a dominant force for the Pats and he can now start the countdown clock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Gronkowski announced his retirement and made an announcement on Instagram.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

It all started at 20 years old on stage at the NFL draft when my dream came true, and now here I am about to turn 30 in a few months with a decision I feel is the biggest of my life so far. I will be retiring from the game of football today. I am so grateful for the opportunity that Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick gave to me when drafting my silliness in 2010. My life experiences over the last 9 years have been amazing both on and off the field. The people I have meet, the relationships I have built, the championships I have been apart of, I just want to thank the whole New England Patriots organization for every opportunity I have been giving and learning the great values of life that I can apply to mine. Thank you to all of Pats Nation around the world for the incredible support since I have been apart of this 1st class organization. Thank you for everyone accepting who I am and the dedication I have put into my work to be the best player I could be. But now its time to move forward and move forward with a big smile knowing that the New England Patriots Organization, Pats Nation, and all my fans will be truly a big part of my heart for rest of my life. It was truly an incredible honor to play for such a great established organization and able to come in to continue and contribute to keep building success. To all my current and past teammates, thank you for making each team every year special to be apart of. I will truly miss you guys. Cheers to all who have been part of this journey, cheers to the past for the incredible memories, and a HUGE cheers to the uncertain of whats next.

A post shared by Rob Gronkowski (@gronk) on Mar 24, 2019 at 2:53pm PDT

Rob Gronkowski back surgery cost him his junior year at Arizona and caused the 21-year-old to enter the 2010 draft, missing a year pushed him into the second round. Bill Belichick is a master mind in trades in a rare trade up, he sent a sixth-rounder to the Raiders to move up two spots to grab Gronkowski.

Gronkowski locked in a six-year, $54 million extension with New England after two seasons. Gronk was brilliant on the field over seven seasons, but after those seven years he never played a full 16-game season again missing 29 contests with variety on injuries such as torn ACL, bad hamstrings, fractured forearm and a high ankle sprain that slowed him in the Super Bowl XLVI loss to the NY Giants. Surgery in 2013 cost him part of the season and in 2016 had another back surgery. In 2018 back problems flared up twice in practice costing him three games.

Rob Gronkowski Stats

We are seeing one of the greatest players of this generation retire before 30. The patriots will take enormous loss. There is no easy swap for Gronkowski but sure that mastermind Belichick and Tom Brady will figure something out.