Gronk ponders retirement
ATLANTA — Rob Gronkowski will be the star of the Patriots parade on Tuesday.
He’ll be on the Duck Boats, laughing and yelling and quite possibly pounding beers. No one will be having more fun.
And when it’s over, Gronkowski might very well ride off into the sunset.
One of the greatest tight ends of all — perhaps the best in clutch moments — Gronkowski will be 30 by the time next season rolls around. Because of the beaten he has taken and because he has already won multiple rings. speculation that he’s nearing retirement has followed him for more than a year.
After Sunday’s game he was asked about his plans again, but Gronkowski said then was the time for celebrating with teammates. He said any announcement regarding his future would be in the upcoming days.
Earlier in the week, the 6-foot-6, 265-pound “Gronk” explained to reporters what it’s like being him.
“Try and imagine getting hit all the time and trying to be where you want to be every day in life,” he said. “It’s tough, it’s difficult. To take hits to the thigh, take hits to your head. Abusing your body isn’t what your brain wants. When your body is abused, it can bring down your mood. You’ve got to be able to deal with that, too, throughout the season.
“No one realizes that, and everyone expects us players to be wide awake every single day, and it’s like ‘Yo, I just took 50 collisions, and then like the next day everyone wants you to be up’. They want practice full speed, next week they want the game to be full speed, but they don’t understand sometimes what players are going through with their bodies, with their minds.”
Gronk is going to be missed. For the great player he was on the field, and the character he was off it.