Many reasons for Gronk to play with JPP and the Bucs.

So last week was interesting for Bucs foot-rubbing, car-littering tight end Rob Gronkowski.

For the first time in his career, the future Hall of Famer was a free agent. And he had Buffalo and a couple of unnamed teams reach out to him, so Gronk said yesterday in his Zoom presser with the local pen and mic club.

Before that, Gronk and his girlfriend, Sports Illustrated swimsuit covergirl model Camille Kostek, sat down for an episode of the Kyle Brandt Podcast, seen and heard on Spotify. Brandt asked Gronk why he agreed to be traded to the Bucs and come out of retirement last year.

Having a chance to reunite with park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady was certainly a key factor, he said, but there were others.

One was location, location, location. Tampa Bay, if you didn’t know, is located in Florida and Gronk likes Florida.

“I would definitely say going down to Florida was one of the key aspects,” Gronk said. “Definitely the No. 1 key aspect was going down there and playing with Tom. If he would have [signed with] a team that I didn’t really like, I don’t think I would have joined.”

Gronk also said he and Kostek prefer to wear scant clothing, so playing in a city with a warm climate “was a huge part of it too.”

Oh, and Gronk thought the Bucs had talent but for whatever reason couldn’t get over the hump, and he wanted to help.

“I saw what they had,” Gronk said of the roster. “I saw their record and saw that they had a pretty good squad. They just weren’t winning games. So I thought I could help contribute… and help make it a winning atmosphere.”

Of course, Gronk said he was healthy again after a year off and was motivated.

“I was ready to play some football,” Gronk added. And when he saw Brady had signed, Gronk said, “That triggered me.”

It seems as though Gronk and Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht have a good relationship. Maybe too close for some people. An unnamed coach hollered at Gronk, he said, for talking too much to Licht at the wrong time, “Quit talking to the GM at practice!”

Gronk added there was a reason behind Brady tossing the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Gronk’s boat, where Cam Brate caught it during the boat parade.

“He was being a good teammate by sharing the trophy with teammates who never experienced a parade before,” Gronk said.

Finally, when the couple was posed with a very probing, personal if not intimate question by Brandt (Kostek initially misheard Brandt, thinking he asked which of the two were more “corny”) Kostek quickly admitted she, um, eeerrr, well, uh… wants it more than her boyfriend.