Tom Brady Convinced Tampa Bay Buccaneers To Trade For Rob Gronkowski

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have Tom Brady to thank for their addition of Rob Gronkowski. The team has traded for the formerly retired tight end, who told the New England Patriots that he wanted to join the quarterback at his new destination.

Gronkowski called it a career 13 months ago, shortly after winning the Super Bowl with Brady and the Patriots. Brady spent his final season with New England in 2019, signing a two-year contract with Tampa Bay in March.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Brady made it no secret in free agency that he wanted to bring Gronkowski along. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians confirmed to CBS’ Melanie Collins that it was the quarterback who pushed for Tampa Bay to acquire Gronkowski.

The Patriots agreed to trade Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick in this week’s NFL draft for a fourth-rounder.

There’s been speculation over the last year that Gronkowski wasn’t done with professional football. New England still owned Gronkowski’s rights for the 2020 season, but the tight end only had an interest in playing if Brady could be his quarterback.

The Patriots tried to trade Gronkowski to the Detroit Lions prior to the 2018 season. Gronkowski threatened to retire if the deal went through because he didn’t want to play with another signal caller.

Brady and Gronkowski won three championships and played in five Super Bowls together as teammates. They were selected to the Pro Bowl in the same year five times.

New England drafted Gronkowski with the 42nd pick in the 2010 draft. Brady was the Patriots’ quarterback for the tight end’s entire nine-year career. The only time Gronkowski played with a different starting quarterback was in Week 3 and Week 4 of the 2016 season as Brady served his suspension for Deflategate.

Gronkowski had 682 receiving yards in 13 games during the 2018 season before he retired. The tight end missed 13 games over his final three years in New England.