Is Rob Gronkowski losing his New England Patriots fans?

Throughout the entire season, Rob Gronkowski has teased his possible return to the New England Patriots after retiring last March.

Over the past eight months since Rob Gronkowski retired from the NFL, we’ve been seeing and hearing all sorts of different stuff about him – mainly concerning whether or not he’s planning to make a potential return to the New England Patriots.

Gronkowski has played with and teased his fans all season long about the idea of returning to the field. He has left the window wide open and even has made comments about his rumored comeback saying things like “you never know.”

We’re accustomed to seeing a Patriots offense built around Gronkowski and his skills. Seeing how New England’s offense has struggled almost every week this season, we’re constantly reminded of the positive impact Gronk could have had on this football team, both in the passing game as a receiver and in the running game as a blocker.

Since Gronk has “retired,” he’s come out with “two big announcements” that he actively portrayed as potentially concerning a return to the game of football. Sadly, that wasn’t the case for Patriots fans in either instance.

In his first big announcement, Gronk explained how he’s been recovering and getting treatment with the use of CBD oil and lotions. Leaving many people shocked that he wasn’t returning to football, it appears Gronk has a few business endeavors he’d like to get into instead.

His second big announcement was the one that made people infuriated. The announcement was made during the third week of November, which led to even more theories of a Gronk return, as the deadline for him to officially file his reinstatement papers with the NFL is November 30.

With that in mind, Gronkowski’s second “big announcement” was yet another let-down for Patriots fans, because it was simply another business endeavor for Gronkowski. He will be hosting the “Gronk Beach” Super Bowl party/music festival in Miami. In the video, you’ll notice how he supposedly is torn between coming back to the field or not. The main thing to takeaway from this video is the part when Gronk mentions “making an audible.”

Gronkowski used Instagram Live video to make his announcement. In the footage he does make a little comment referring to a possible football return for 2020. He’s also been on different talk shows and hinted at possible returns in the future after taking a year or two off to pursue his other endeavors in business and entertainment.

It was also reported not too long ago that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had talked with Gronk during the team’s locker clean-out day about returning to the team later on during the following season for a playoff run. Kraft seemed to acknowledge that his star tight end might deserve a much-needed rest period, but he made it clear that the team would welcome him back with open arms if he arrived later on in the season for the stretch run heading into the playoffs.

Many people think Gronk is using all of his football fans to stay relevant enough through his “retirement” to gain more publicity for his new business endeavors. Some people don’t mind him using all the constant hype and speculation to his personal advantage, but many other people are irked about the way he constantly is manipulating the hopes of his former fans… many of whom are obviously New England Patriots fans as well.

At this point, it seems safe to say that the New England Patriots will be Gronk-less for the 2019 season. But in regards to 2020, like Gronk said: “you never know.” After seeing the video though, I’m convinced Gronkowski is using this year as a rest period for himself, and that he’ll make his return in 2020.