Earlier today, one of the NFL’s greatest and most entertaining players announced his retirement: New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will step away from the game. The move ends weeks of speculation and simultaneously closes the book on one of the league’s outstanding careers — one that will result in a Hall of Fame induction. Let us now, however, take a closer look at what the retirement means for the Patriots.
New England loses its premier offensive player
Even though 2018 was a down-year by his lofty standards, Rob Gronkowski was still a tremendous weapon in New England’s offensive arsenal: not only was he as outstanding a blocker as he ever was, he also was able to challenge man coverage better than any other player except Julian Edelman and serve as a big play threat — just look at the Patriots’ playoff run for confirmation.