Podcast: Is Rob Gronkowski really retired?

He may be the greatest tight end of all-time. It's also hard to imagine "Gronk" is truly finished rampaging through opponents.

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Rob Gronkowski has retired. He’s done with football. He made that abundantly clear in a farewell post. Everyone grab a tissue.

Or, you know, maybe he’s not finished with professional football quite yet. Seconds after the news broke Tuesday afternoon, the tight end’s longtime agent (high-powered Drew Rosenhaus) told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he does not believe Gronk is done yet. He can see Gronkowski returning at some point this season.

Which is it? Time will tell. He came out of retirement once before after sitting out the 2019 season.

Naturally, Gronkowski was a major figure in my upcoming book, “The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football.” We chatted at length during this past football season, and I also spoke to several people in his inner-circle for the book. The gut feeling here? Gronk is not done yet. The man is happiest barrelling through defenders on the field. Since he was a kid in his Western New York basement, he’s gotten joy out of being both hitter and hittee. While I do think we’ll see him the rest of our lives on TV — even as a movie actor — it’s hard to imagine that this is it.

The four-time champion remains incredibly productive. In only 12 games last season, he caught 55 balls for 802 yards with six touchdowns.

Tom Brady decided to unretire himself this offseason and these two are as close as two teammates possibly can be.

From Mike Ditka to Ozzie Newsome to Tony Gonzalez to Gronk, gosh, it was unbelievably fascinating to chat with the best to ever do it. All 15 tight ends profiled left an indelible imprint on the sport. Not only that. They saved the sport. Is Gronkowski the greatest ever? Combine it all — the vicious blocking, the athleticism, the authenticity, the winning — and it’s hard to put anybody above Gronk. Nobody preserved real football like him.

Cannot wait for folks to read “Blood and Guts,” out in late October. If you’d like, it’s available for pre-order here. We’ve got fun B & G plans for Go Long subscribers, too.

We’ll also break down Gronkowski’s career in more detail soon. For now, here’s a podcast on the news of the day.

You can access the Go Long Podcast wherever you pod.

Thanks, all.

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