Jason Witten gives advice to Rob Gronkowski on how to handle retirement

The newly un-retired tight end gives advice to Rob Gronkowski, who will be entering his first NFL season as a retired man.

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten knows what retirement is like. That may be the same reason why he decided to un-retire and rejoin the Cowboys in 2019. Because watching from the sideline doesn't fill the void of competition for a competitor like himself.  That's the same reason why he wanted to offer up advice to a former NFL tight end who is entering his first NFL season as a retired man - Rob Gronkowski. 

Witten gave advice to Gronkowski on how to handle retirement via the MMQB's Albert Breer. 

“First off, it’s not apples-to-apples,” Witten says. “He’s coming off a championship, a number of them, and I haven’t had that. I wake up every morning thinking of that. And so I think he’s in a different place because he’s achieved that at the highest level. But what I do know about him is he’s the ultimate competitor, he loves football, so it’s going to be hard. It’s hard to fill that void, knowing you can still do it.

“Look, this is a young man’s game, and father time catches up with all of us. But while you can still do it, and he certainly can, he’s going to have to find things that fill that. … A lot of guys I’ve seen in my career that played at a high level and were done, they moved on, never thought another day about it. I know he’s got a lot of opportunities, but I’m sure he’ll miss it, because he’s the ultimate competitor.”

We already know the first chapter of Gronkowski's post-NFL life involves the gamified obstacle course called "Stadium Blitz" which will begin in October. But will that be enough for the future Hall of Fame tight end? There's nothing that says Gronk can't bail out of that business venture, which is also being run by Gronk Nation (his brothers). He could easily return to playing football and let his brothers run the SB events in his absence. 

When push comes to shove, it's hard to imagine that the former Patriots tight end stays away from the game of football. But if he stays focused and takes Witten's advice by filling his time with other activities that fill the void of competition for him, it's definitely possible that he stays retired.