The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are facing upheaval after the retirement of Tom Brady. At least there is still hope that Rob Gronkowski will return to Florida for the upcoming season.

Munich – After the retirement of quarterback legend Tom Brady, the NFL world stood still for a moment on Tuesday.

At the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, however, the focus was already on the coming season despite mutual declarations of love. In addition to Brady’s departure, the reigning Super Bowl champions have a few other holes in their roster.

One of them is tight end Rob Gronkowski, who, like Brady, moved to Tampa two years ago. Despite minor injury breaks, Gronk also developed into one of the Bucs’ most important starting tight ends.

Accordingly, the franchise hopes to keep the 32-year-old, who has also publicly toyed with retirement thoughts in recent days.

Buccaneers don’t give up hope on Gronk return

“Whether he’s going to continue or not, it’s not decided at all,” general manager Jason Licht told the NFL Network. “I want him to rest after this tough season, that’s for sure. I don’t think it’s just dependent on Tom Brady’s decision.”

Rather, he said, the decision would depend on whether his body was still cooperating. “I just want to fully recover and see how I feel,” Gronkowski said most recently. “I want to let things settle down – I just need to get healthy, get all the bumps and bruises fixed,” said the four-time Super Bowl winner.

Given Gronkowski’s advanced age, Licht doesn’t want to rush into anything: “When you’ve played eleven years in the league, you just need more time to see how much desire you still have. We would expect him back with open arms, but I think he just needs a bit more time.”

If Gronkowski continues to suit up for Tampa Bay in 2022, it would be the first season in which he doesn’t catch balls from Tom Brady as the starting quarterback.

He was one of the Buccaneers’ top performers in the regular season with 802 receiving yards and six touchdowns. In the playoffs, he caught nine balls for 116 yards and one touchdown.