Leonard Fournette's plan to lure Rob Gronkowski out of retirement
Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement this past week. Many of those who stay tapped into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers knew that there was a possibility that Gronk would retire, but overall had the feeling that the future first-ballot Hall of Famer would eventually choose to suit up for the 2022-23 season to chase another Lombardi Trophy with Tom Brady and company.
Once Gronkowski announced his decision to retire, rumors on how long this retirement would last were immediate. Gronk's agent said he would not be surprised if the star TE came back to play with the Bucs this season or even in 2023. Numerous other sports personalities have come out similarly stating that Gronk is just waiting for training camp to wrap up to unretire and rejoin the Bucs.
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One thing is for certain, Gronkowski's former teammates will miss his presence. Buccaneers' running back Leonard Fournette appeared on "The Rich Eisen Show" to talk about how he plans to convince the recently retired tight end to end his retirement and come back to the NFL.
“Just know, I will be calling his phone 24/7 for the offseason, regular season. We’re going to need Gronk, man. Gronk, he’s special to our program, to the team, to that locker room. His energy, his vibe, man. Who wouldn’t want to have him as a teammate? He’s a great guy and I love Gronk.”
It seems like Fournette plans to take a page out of Tom Brady's book. Brady definitely has the lure capability by just being able to place a call to get someone out of retirement, but it may take more from Fournette to convince Gronk out of retirement.
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Fournette and Gronk have built a great relationship during their tenures with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronk even had a say in some of the nicknames that Fournette has since decided to take upon his own following his performance in the 2020 NFL playoffs. The relationship is probably much further along than what we see on the field, as "Lenny" stated that Gronk provides so much to the team outside of what we see him do on the field.
Buccaneers' faithful can only hope that these phone calls do end up helping their cause and pulling Gronk out of retirement.
