Former Gronk Teammate: He Could Be Game-Ready For The Bucs In Three Weeks
June 24th, 2022
There’s lots of chatter out there about retired (?) Rob Gronkowski re-signing with the Bucs later this season after a call from Tom Brady or, presumably, following a more lucrative offer from general manager Jason Licht.
If money is the issue, Joe sure hopes Team Glazer and Licht man up and give their new head coach all the valuable pieces they can. And yeah, Gronk is valuable and irreplaceable.
Last night on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian proposed a hypothetical to guest A.Q. Shipley, a Bucs center in 2020 and a Tampa Bay assistant coach last year.
Polian’s premise was simple: Could Gronk come three weeks late to training camp, skip contact in practice, play a little in one preseason game and be ready to roll in Week 1?
The cerebral Shipley paused and then concluded that Gronk absolutely could do that successfully.
Shipley played a season in Arizona for Kliff Kingsbury, who Shipley said completely reshaped his opinion on the value of training camp practice.
Nearly everthing about Kingsbury’s training camp was about keeping players healthy, fresh and mentally sharp, per Shipley, not grinding on the field to get in shape.
“A lot more walk-throughs [with Kingsbury], you’re not banging the whole training camp,” Shipley said. “You’re not going through 9-on-7 and going into another team period and going into scrimmages and stuff like that. It was a lot more walk-throughs, a lot more mental reps and keeping the body fresh. I felt just as good playing in that system under that regime as I did, you know, playing in my first training camp in with Coach [Mike] Tomlin in Pittsburgh [under] the old CBA and just grinding two-a-days.”
Shipley applied that experience to Gronk and noted that Gronk is so sharp mentally within the Bucs offense, and has seen it all during his career, that he would need little August time to be ready for opening day.
“He might be a little rusty Week 1, but he would be ready Week 2 and moving forward.” Shipley said of Gronk.
What Shipley didn’t say, but didn’t have to, is that Todd Bowles’ training camp will be a lot more old school than Arizona’s, with plenty of banging and live-in-the-trenches action in the heat.
June 24th, 2022 at 12:34 am
if this is Gronks plan then so be it.
June 24th, 2022 at 1:58 am
Suh.
June 24th, 2022 at 5:14 am
Yeah bring back Gronk and Suh. Simple as that.
June 24th, 2022 at 6:05 am
Agreed, but Gronk, Suh and JPP.
June 24th, 2022 at 6:36 am
Kliff Kingsbury, completely reshaping opinions on the value of training camp practice. So….how is that working our for the Cardinals?
June 24th, 2022 at 7:07 am
Suh
June 24th, 2022 at 7:25 am
Gronk-a-day …..with my morning coffee
June 24th, 2022 at 8:58 am
If Gronk wasn’t coming back at some point, Brady would be a lot more nervous than he I’d and a veteran TE would be signed already.
June 24th, 2022 at 10:07 am
Hmmm what list said^^^
June 24th, 2022 at 11:02 am
I bet in 40 days he returns too.
June 24th, 2022 at 1:06 pm
Sorry to be a realist–but it took him longer than 3 weeks when he came out of retirement the last time. If he comes out, it would need to be midseason for the Bucs to have any hope of him being a tangible contributor by the playoffs.
June 24th, 2022 at 1:28 pm
The more I think about Todd on the sideline with no safety net, the more nervous I get. Without JPP and Suh, there is now a huge leadership void. Yes Hicks partially fills it as does Logan Ryan, but they are both new to the system. A system that is more complex than advanced calculus, no wonder our young secondary doesn’t know what the hell they’re supposed to be doing much of the time.
Add in razor thin depth at ILB – Diva White is a headless chicken and totally lost without LVD – and I have severe intestinal cramps contemplating the first four games.
June 24th, 2022 at 2:02 pm
@Goatfarmer
Both Hicks and Logan Ryan played for Belichick, whose defenses were very demanding, and frequently changed from week to week in order to exploit opponent weaknesses. They’ll both get up to speed in short order.
I would like to see Trey Flowers, he’d be an excellent chess piece for Bowles. Flowers can play upright or with a hand in the dirt, he’s an OLB/EDGE that can make a difference with this team and offset the loss of JPP.
Not much can be done at ILB at this point. I’d love another player too, but the need at TE overshadows everything else.
June 24th, 2022 at 8:10 pm
another article feeding stupidity
June 25th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
Really ?? “Diva White” ??? He had 1 down year , and that down year was still better than 30 other teams player at that position . And the last thing that comes to mind about Devin White is DIVA !! He’s a team first player who is only going into his 4th year ! Would you rather have the other Devin ?? Devin Bush that everyone thought was going to be the next Derrick Brooks ?? He’s the definition of BUST !! Not Devin White.. I bet he has a MONSTER year this season. I swear some of you are spoiled brat bandwagon fans that only started watching the Bucs when Brady came to town. You know nothing !! Go Bucs
June 25th, 2022 at 1:34 pm
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June 25th, 2022 at 10:41 pm
Look Gronk said himself he was 50/50 on playing. Sorry we need 100 % Go Bucs!!