What next for Gronkowski and Brown after Tom Brady's retirement?

End of a (short) era! Rob Gronkowski looks set to follow best friend Tom Brady into retirement after 12 glory-filled years together – and there’s now NO chance of NFL rebel Antonio Brown reconciling with the Bucs

  • Tom Brady announced his retirement in a lengthy social media post on Tuesday
  • It throws doubt on the future of his best friend in the league Rob Gronkowski
  • The tight-end has never been on a team that hasn’t had Brady at quarterback
  • Antonio Brown’s route into the league also looks over with Brady walking away 

Tom Brady’s retirement from the NFL has immediately cast doubt on the future of Hall of Fame tight-end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Antonio Brown.  

Brady announced Tuesday he is walking away with seven Super Bowl rings and earnings of $292million in salary but it is two relationships with his favorite on-field targets that have analysts talking up a domino effect. 

In Rob Gronkowski – Brady’s most loyal of sidekicks – is a tight-end who only knows the NFL life with Brady by his side. 

Study together, eat together, diet together, holiday together, shoot adverts together, everything. With Brady walking away, questions are swirling on whether Gronkowski will be next to call it a day.

Then there is the curious case of wideout Brown who many teams don’t want to get anywhere near. He’s trouble, a lot of coaches believe, but Brady has always been one of Brown’s fiercest defenders and is the reason why he even ended up with the Bucs in Tampa.

So, Gronkowski is losing his trusted sidekick and Brown is now without his last remaining NFL lifeline. 

Tom Brady (left) and Rob Gronkowski (right) have been inseparable in the NFL for the last decade. Pictured in 2014 after beating the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl XLIX

Receiver Antonio Brown (right) has been likened to a ‘brother’ to Brady (left) who roots for him

News of Brady’s retirement will hit fewer players harder than tight-end Gronkowski, or ‘Gronky’ as TB12 affectionately refers to him as.

Gronkowski has never played on a team without Brady at QB. 

In all his years in the NFL, Brady has been by his side since he got drafted to New England as the 42nd pick back in 2010.

With Brady’s vision and his generational talent, Gronkowski has put together a Hall of Fame career, first in New England and now at Tampa.  

‘It’s been amazing to watch him perform,’ Brady gushed last year. ‘He’s obviously the greatest tight end to ever play the game and still doing it. 

Gronkowski (right) got drafted as the 42nd pick in 2010 and has been a revelation with Brady

Fans took to the pairing as the most effective in the league and they have four Super Bowl wins

‘I think his ability to block in the run game, run routes in the pass game, win against smaller players, and then he’s very clutch. He comes up big in the biggest moments.’

If Gronkowski does follow Brady out of the door in Tampa he will go down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest TE to play the game.  

A five-time Pro Bowler, four-time first-team All-Pro selection and a four-time Super Bowl champion, Gronkowski’s tandem with Brady has been as lucrative as any in NFL history.

This is nothing new either. Since Gronkowski’s rookie year – when Brady targeted the tight end 59 times and he scored 10 touchdowns – he has been TB12’s go-to target.

The Brady-Gronkowski red zone hug became the default celebration and they soon found themselves inseparable off the turf as much as they were on it. 

Study partners in the film room and couples holidays to go with it, a team without Brady may simply feel too alien for Gronkowski. 

They became inseparable off the pitch and regularly took holidays and parties in together

‘It will factor into the situation,’ Gronkowski told TMZ Sports after the divisional round loss to the Rams last month, when asked if Brady’s call on retirement will influence his own next move. 

‘He’s got to do what he’s got to do for himself and his family, no doubt about that. But then for myself, I got to do what I got to do, you know, what’s best for myself, see where I’m at, how I’m feeling — all that type of stuff.’ 

One reason analysts believe Gronkowski – who would need to sign a new deal in Tampa given he was on a incentive-laden one-year deal – is that he is within touching distance of being statistically the best tight-end in NFL history.

As things stand, Gronkowski is third all-time in touchdowns for a TE with 93; only Antonio Gates (116) and Tony Gonzalez (111) are ahead of him. 

Make no mistake that life in the NFL without Brady isn’t just an inconvenience for Gronkowski, it is a whole new world. 

The tight-end changed his diet because of Brady – cutting out sugar –  and once said that they are so in sync, Brady can read his mind. 

With Brady (right) as his QB, Gronkowski (left) has the third most touchdowns of a TE in history

Brady has gushed over Gronkowski – the ‘best tight-end in history – and has favored him

‘Let me tell you, I don’t think we do need to talk, because Tom claims when we’re throwing rounds that he knows already what I’m thinking before I even know what I’m thinking,’ Gronkowski told NFL network. 

‘So I’m like, “oh really, if that’s the case, you’re right, we don’t even have to say a single word to each other” if he already knows what I’m thinking. I really think he does it sometimes.’ 

Gronkowski may have impressed in 2021, catching 55 passes for 802 yards and six touchdowns but five games out injured brings the future of the 32-year-old into question. 

And don’t forget the last time the NFL gods tried to separate Brady and Gronk – when he was traded to the Detroit Lions in 2018 – he retired for two years before running it back with his sidekick in Tampa. 

The door had been left open by Gronkowski, with or without Brady calling it a day, but now the dye has been cast, all eyes are on the tight-end and whether, for the first time in his career, he goes solo without his QB. 

Defeat to LA Rams and now a free agent, questions are being asked about Gronkowski’s future

Then there is Brown. 

‘AB has become like a brother to me,’ gushed Brady when asked about his relationship with the bad-boy receiver.

When everyone else was just about ready to turn their back on Brown, Brady pushed Bucs management into bringing him in. Head coach Bruce Arians resisted but eventually TB12 got his way. 

He has always been there to fight for Brown when few others were not.

Their relationship dates back to first playing together in New England during the 2019 season. 

Brown is one of the most volatile talents in recent league memory but he was a player who, with Brady as his arm, produced a Hall of Fame career. 

The NFL rebel has had 91 catches for 1,084 yards and scored nine touchdowns in 16 games with Brady in his career, as per StatMuse.

Brown (left) had been kicked off three teams before Brady (right) brought him to the Bucs

Brown (left) is a Hall of Fame talent that is the only player in NFL history to have six consecutive seasons of 100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards

They previously lived together and Brady took his ‘brother’ tag seriously, always fighting Brown’s corner after a series of transgressions got him kicked off three teams prior to Tampa.

Brown remains the only player in NFL history with six consecutive seasons of 100 catches.

He too is the only player in NFL history to have six consecutive seasons of 100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards.

But in a bitter row that even Brady couldn’t defend, leading to his Bucs contract being terminated and analysts left questioning if Brown will ever get another shot at the league, their relationship became strained.

‘To me, a friend is someone who’s got your back,’ Brown told Full Send Podcast.

Brady had no way of defending Brown when he ripped his shirt off and stormed off the sideline against the New York Jets. He would soon have his contract with the Bucs terminated

Brown could rely on Brady to help get him on a roster but with Brady retiring, that has vanished

‘Not everybody in sports is going to be your friend. Tom Brady’s my friend why? Because I’m a good football player. He needs me to play football. People have different meanings of what friendship is.’ 

And on he went: ‘If Tom Brady’s my boy, why am I not playing on an honest salary? You my boy though, right? [Rob] Gronkowski his boy, right? How much he get paid? So why is A.B. on a prove it deal?’ 

Brown was tossed after storming from the sideline before he and Arians got into a public dispute of allegations over a ‘cover-up’ of Brown’s ankle injury. 

Brady was always Brown’s get out of jail free card. Brady saw him as family, pleaded his case like family would and with Brady walking away, it remains to be seen if another QB is willing to put it all on the line for Brown. 

Analysts have suggested the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs as two potential landing spots where a Hall of Fame receiver can perform – and win. But with no Brady to fall back on, his last hope may have gone up in smoke. 

ANTONIO BROWN TAMPA BAY BUCANEERS FALL-OUT TIMELINE 

October 27, 2020: Antonio Brown signs with Bucs

February 7, 2021: Bucs win Super Bowl, Brown catches TD

May 25, 2021: Brown signs one-year, $6.25m extension

December 2, 2021: Brown suspended for three games by NFL for misrepresenting Covid vaccination status

January 2, 2022: AB leaves field midway through Bucs game vs Jets; coach Arians says he’s ‘no longer a Buc’

January 3, 2022: Arians denies reports Brown had an injury preventing him from playing against the Jets

January 5, 2022: Brown releases a statement via agent saying he was FORCED to play hurt after ‘dangerous’ injection. Arians disputed this.

January 6, 2022: The Buccaneers officially release Brown and he remains a free agent



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