If Tom Brady decides to play another NFL season in 2023, it’s not far-fetched to believe that Rob Gronkowski would decide to come out of retirement for a second time.
After a one-year retirement, Gronkowski decided to join Brady after the latter signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 free agency. Though “Gronk” called it quits for a second time this past offseason, a return in 2023 doesn’t seem out of the question. After all, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles recently revealed that Gronk recently discussed the idea of a return with the team.
Brady’s contract with the Buccaneers expires after this season. Given the team’s struggles throughout 2022, it feels like he would likely sign elsewhere rather than return to Tampa, provided he decides to play a 24th season.
In his latest piece at The Athletic, NFL insider Jeff Howe proposed a juicy scenario that would see Brady and Gronkowski reunite once again, this time with the Las Vegas Raiders:
“Brady’s priorities are straightforward. As the Patriots’ offensive skill players deteriorated in his final season in New England, he joined a Buccaneers roster with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in their primes and convinced Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown to join them…
Brady and Davante Adams would be a dominant duo. Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow can command the middle of the field, which is an element the Bucs have lacked this season. And if Brady busted out the conch shell to get Gronk to Vegas, he’d be cannonballing at Drai’s before the echo faded.”
The Raiders announced earlier this week that starting quarterback Derek Carr will be benched for the final two games, and that strongly indicates that they’re preparing to move on from the 31-year-old after this season.
If that’s the case, the Raiders will have a giant void at quarterback. The team is coached by Josh McDaniels, who was on staff for the New England Patriots’ six Super Bowl championship seasons with Brady.
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Adding Gronkowski and Brady to that offense would make the Raiders all the more scary. But first, we have to wait and see if the seven-time Super Bowl champion and three-time league MVP is actually planning on playing another season. And if he is, then you can expect the Brady-and-Gronk-to-Vegas rumors to really heat up in the offseason.
