Tom Brady to NFL Teams: Wherever I Go, Gronk Goes

A report Wednesday morning made it clear that one of Tom Brady's demands if he were to sign with another team is that they also acquire Rob Gronkowski.

We know that Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are best friends. That came from playing with each other for the better part of a decade. But their friendship apparently goes so deep that Brady told NFL teams that wanted to sign him this offseason one thing: Wherever I go, Gronk goes. 

While appearing on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Morning Show" Wednesday morning, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport shared that insight. 

“Tom Brady told interested suitors that he wanted to bring Gronk with him wherever he signed," Rapoport said. 

One way for Brady's transition to another team to go over smoothly is for him to have familiar faces around him. Before Tuesday that was a hard thing to come by for Brady down in Tampa. But adding Gronkowski - who had a historic tenure with Brady in New England - adds familiarity and an elite talent into the mix for a 42 year old QB who is making a big change late in his career. 

It will be interesting to see what head coach Bruce Arians will be able to get out of Gronkowski. Though Gronkowski feels ready to return to action, he is much lighter than he was during his final season with the Patriots in 2018. On top of that, Gronkowski had much more of a blocking role during his final year with New England, so what will his role be with the Buccaneers if he has a slimmer build?

One has to think that Gronkowski didn't come out of retirement to throw down blocks. He came out of retirement to catch passes from his old friend. So Tampa Bay may do what they can to revive the Gronkowski of old, which is one of the greatest pass-catching tight end we've even seen in the history of the NFL.