Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles confirmed that retired tight end Rob Gronkowski recently reached out to the team about possibly returning for a playoff push.
Bowles told the Tampa Bay Times that nothing serious came of the call.
“It was more of a conversation than anything else,” Bowles said. “Usually, when you have to think about playing, you probably don’t want to play. When it’s just a discussion, I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
Gronkowski, 33, who retired for the second time in June, sparked social media interest Wednesday by tweeting three words: “I’m kinda bored.”
I’m kinda bored ??…
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) December 21, 2022
Under Gronkowski’s longtime quarterback Tom Brady, the Buccaneers (6-8) still lead the NFC South by one game heading into Sunday night’s road game against the Arizona Cardinals (4-10).
A four-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro Bowl selection, Gronkowski caught 621 passes for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns in 143 games for the New England Patriots (2010-18) and Bucs (2020-21). He sat out the 2019 season in his first retirement.
–Field Level Media