The Football Fun Factor For Gronkowski & Brady
April 21st, 2020
“Jason, good luck.”
When new Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski retired after the 2018 campaign, he was worn down physically and mentally from the toll of nine seasons, various injuries and 16 playoff games.
Former Giants All-Pro running back Tiki Barber says Gronk and Tom Brady also were worn down by the militant Bill Belicheat regime.
Barber dove into that aspect of Gronk’s return on CBS Sports Radio this afternoon. He believes Gronk will be fine getting back into football shape — and playing for Bucco Bruce Arians will be key to the mental revival necessary to reclaim his All-Pro form.
“The other side of it, though, is one that’s more important to me to think about,” Barber said. “Football takes a toll on you. Physically it takes a toll on you; emotionally it takes a toll on you; cognitively it takes a toll on you. And one of the issues that Rob, I think, thought about when he retired was he had a bunch of concussions. You know some of them were diagnosed; a lot of them probably weren’t and he had a bunch of concussions. You get tired of your body getting beat up.
“The other side of that side is it just seemed like it wasn’t fun. And like we had this conversation about Tom Brady’s desire to do it someplace else.
“Could it be, you know what, that given a funner environment, Rob Gronkowski pushes through the physical and emotional and mental anguish of being a football player and being, you know, a target every single time he’s out there? If he was at a fun place, would he have stayed another year or two and played it out?” Well, now, he gets to explore a funner — and put that word in quotes — a funner place to go play football with his buddy Tom Brady. Even though he’s got his body relaxed and recuperated for a season, can that fire come back?”
Some great points by Barber. Joe has to think Gronkowski is excited by the weapons around him, in the sense that he won’t need to shoulder a huge load and draw double teams like he did in New England.
Still, Gronkowski is a punishing and active cog in the running game, which is where a lot of big hits and wear and tear occur. Joe certainly hopes Gronk isn’t coming to Florida to party and collect a check.
There is zero reason to think he is, but funny things happen sometimes when veterans arrive in Tampa.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:10 pm
Gronk – The Duke of Dale Mabry
April 21st, 2020 at 7:10 pm
All I know right now is……..
ALL NEW ENGLAND FANS ARE PISSED!!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 7:13 pm
There are many better adjectives than “funner,” but I get Tiki’s point. Gronk is a frat boy in football pads. If it’s not fun, it’s not for him. The strip joints are really close to the Den of Depression though. I don’t believe it’s going to be a Den of Depression this year.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:13 pm
@theBucsAnthem: All New England Fans think we got fleeced.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:15 pm
Rob Gronkowski is the current 24/7 WWE Champion after winning the title at Wrestlemania. I hope one of those dastardly heels doesn’t go for his knees trying to get the title back.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:18 pm
PARTY at Jeter’s !!!
April 21st, 2020 at 7:19 pm
I saw that Julian Edelman unfollowed Tom Brady on Instagram after the trade today.
Sounds like he was not in the know and was upset by it.
Pretty interesting.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:20 pm
^^^^^^^^
Well of course New England fans think that…..what else they gonna say????
New England fans have been spoiled way too long and haven’t suffered like bucs fans.
Hell, even if we only get ONE YEAR outta Brady or Gronk…..it’ll be a fun year at that!!!!
Fun times for all Bucs Fans right now.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:20 pm
BREAKING NEWS:
LeBron James wants to join the Buccaneers!!
April 21st, 2020 at 7:21 pm
Some New England Patriot Reddit fan opinions:
I know this is just emotions, but I feel so upset about Brady and Gronk for some reason. What makes it feel worse is we don’t have any replacements. We have no idea what we’ve got in Stidham, really. And we don’t have a tight end that going to make a big impact.
I’m pissed because having gronk back with Brady would have solved part of the pats issue of lack of weapons.
So gronk not wanting to come out of retirement until oh look Brady’s in a nice weather party state, helps drive Brady out and f… up the offense and whole team last year.
Some how the offseason had actually made me hope next season is cancelled and both of them just never get to play for another.
It’s better than nothing. Funny, nothing is what we have at TE currently.
Season was already in the toilet and now it hurts emotionally too.
Can’t wait for that 4th to be some UDFA-projected safety from Alabama named J.Z. Jacker-Claude who can’t tackle or cover and gets cut midway through 2021 training camp.
Bucs are gonna be scary this season.
punkrawkisneat
I moved to Tampa last summer, and things have been super weird ever since.
ToxicCoffee7
Can you move back
punkrawkisneat
Man, it’s way too f..ing nice down here to ever move back.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:23 pm
Lets see how.many ticket sell with this news joe! Also how fun is this offense going to be to watch next season!now that we have a loaded roster whats next? We trade for alvin kamara?lol.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:24 pm
Pretty sure dude has had a place here for years. He already knows what this town has to offer for fun. He wants to compete and have fun doing it.
The Arians Affect is working in free agents, ahem Hall of Famers…. screw all you BA Haters!
Enjoy this ride, it should be epic!
In BA I Trust!
April 21st, 2020 at 7:24 pm
ha ha ha ha ^^^^^^^^^^^
Funny……..no way you move down from the New England area and then wanna leave Sunny Florida for wet, dull, and gray winters in New England…..no thank you
April 21st, 2020 at 7:25 pm
This may be an incredibly fun season!
Imagine: Evans, Godwin wide, Gronk at TE, Howard in the slot, and a soft-hand pass-catcher RB behind Brady.
How do you defend that?
April 21st, 2020 at 7:25 pm
The other day I saw a truck that had a huge Patriots logo on the back.
I suspect a lot of transplants from NE will be here in Fla, stat. LOL.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:27 pm
Yeah……it just sucks that no stadiums will allow attendance when the season kicks off this year……
how rocking would that be??????
April 21st, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Try to double team Gronk, OJ, Evans & Godwin…….that’s 8 players with 3 left over to rush the passer……..and our RB is not covered at all…..
Who needs an Oline with that formation……
April 21st, 2020 at 7:31 pm
I just hope this all in pays out for us and doesn’t blow up in our face like the Revis trade and the DeSean experience. Your sentence about having a paid Florida vacation to party it up for a season also seems right up Gronks alley.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:31 pm
^^You DONT!
This O is going to be lethal
If the D stays on the upward track, it’s going to be a fun, fun season
April 21st, 2020 at 7:31 pm
The Gronk trade is not official until it is announced, and it has not been yet. Yet.
At most he’ll play a year. So I don’t see the point in getting rid of OJ or Brate.
Expect Gronk to rework his contract.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:33 pm
Winsnone who? Without Brady we don’t get Gronk.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:34 pm
The Bucs will now play in the Den of Accession !
April 21st, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
April 21st, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Try to double team Gronk, OJ, Evans & Godwin…….that’s 8 players with 3 left over to rush the passer……..and our RB is not covered at all…..
Who needs an Oline with that formation……
__________________________________
What? You gotta protect the guy spreading the ball around.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Bonzai, you absolutely HAVE to get rid of either Brate or OJ and their salary. We simply can’t carry that much salary at the TE position. Gronk to Tampa is a done deal.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:37 pm
The Den of Depression will now be known as the Den of Accession!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 7:42 pm
@Bonzai.
Not sure about your 1st point. It is announced by the NFL Network, ESPN, and Gronk’s agent and Brady. I get that it is not on Buccaneers.com but it is a done deal.
I tend to agree with your 2nd point although if Brady is here more than one year maybe Gronk wants to stay as well. Ultimately, I could be fine with them keeping both OJ and Brate or trading one. Licht is killing it last year and this year so I will go with his thoughts.
Not sure on your 3rd point. Is it your educated guess or some inside source?
If your educated guess, please explain how you got there.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:46 pm
It’s been announced all over. You’re fake news.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:46 pm
Really hope they trade O.J. for a position swap with the Panthers in 1st and 2nd round. Guaranteed one of the big 4 tackles or you go for Simmons and draft tackle in round 2.
April 21st, 2020 at 7:54 pm
What’s next? Edelman for Howard trade?
April 21st, 2020 at 8:07 pm
Cobraboy= GREAT IDEA!!! I think if we had Edelman we can then concentrate on drafting a RB, OT, DT and Safety!! Away we go!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 8:19 pm
Cobraboy… Said this earlier today, but yeah, they should strongly consider moving OJ to WR, the guy has better measurables than Evans and he can catch the ball. People pretending he’s a bust are morons, the guy was on a path to be a star under Dirk, but Arians doesn’t use the TE and mostly asked OJ to block, which is not his strength. While OJ had a bad year last year, there’s no reason to think he suddenly forgot how to play football.
BUT, Godwin is the slot WR. Line OJ up outside, and man, what a mismatch against corners. At the combine, he was what, 251lbs and ran a 4.51 – so if he just focused on being a receiver and lost maybe 20-25lbs, you’d expect him to be in the 4.4 range, and at 6′ 6″, man, that would be tough to defend. Even if he can’t get open, he should be able to just jump up and catch the ball. It’s not exactly like Evans is leaving corners behind, he just out muscles them for the ball. Anyways, trying out OJ at WR seems like a great idea, a lot better than trading him for a 5th rounder or whatever they’d get – which wouldn’t be much. OJ can absolutely catch the ball, we saw that in his first two years, and while I don’t know what he did to get in Arians doghouse, hopefully he can work his way out of if. Also if the move paid off, if OJ slimed down and became a good WR, man… I love the idea.
April 21st, 2020 at 8:35 pm
“The duke of dale mabry”! Mark it joe!!!!!!
April 21st, 2020 at 8:36 pm
You know what’s fun? Winning.
April 21st, 2020 at 9:22 pm
Hopefully Dante Scarnecchia will come out of retirement as well.
April 21st, 2020 at 9:26 pm
Didn’t Gronk loose a lot of weight after he retired? Thats hard to get back in a few months of training.. But dang, I’m stoked for this season.. I hope both TB12 & Gronk still have a season or 2 left in the tank! Go Bucs!
April 22nd, 2020 at 5:13 am
Funny when talk of A. Brown coming to the Bucs started BA said there was no money for anything like that. It’s not about the money, it’s about the player. Funny about Edleman, acting like a 14 yr old girl.
April 22nd, 2020 at 10:08 am
@hodad, actually i think he said even at the minimum AB would not be a fit.
April 22nd, 2020 at 1:34 pm
I hear Deon Sanders, and Alstott are available too.
this is turning into the longest yard, but better lol.
April 22nd, 2020 at 1:35 pm
by better i mean more entertaining.
April 22nd, 2020 at 1:58 pm
One of my best friends who is a Patriots fan put it best…only Belichick could figure out a way to trade a retired player for a 4th round pick. Pretty much sums things up for me…we got fleeced on this one