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Rob Gronkowski has had a stellar career filled with big catches and highlight plays. The combination he and Tom Brady formed in New England was historic and it produced multiple championships.
Now the band is back together again after Gronkowski was traded along with a seventh-round draft pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a fourth-round draft pick. This seems to be a move to make Brady more comfortable with his surroundings, or at least that’s the popular guess. Going over it, It’s hard to find a reason why this is a good trade.
Most will think this move can only help Brady but I’ve been tasked to burst that thought bubble and explain why it won’t.
Non-special Effect
Gronkowski has slimmed down from his usual big bulky frame. The main reason is he’s trying to relieve stress to his back which he’s had multiple surgeries on. So you don’t have the usual “Gronk” to go along with what should be a different Brady by default.
By trading for a tight end of any caliber, you create a log-jam at a position that already features O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Sure Brady might be more comfortable with Gronkowski but he didn’t play last year, those guys did. We know they’re able to produce while we have no clue what Gronkowski has left.
Now that you’ve absorbed the Gronkowski contract, how are you supposed to build the offensive line to protect Brady? There’s virtually no money left under the cap to sign a lineman of any merit. So now, what’s the plan, they go into the NFL draft looking to snag a few lineman?
Sure, that’s exactly what Brady needs to be successful. Let’s just throw in two rookie lineman to protect the winningest quarterback of all time. Tampa Bay needs a bit more than just a few offensive lineman. If their draft now focuses on that, how do you round out the rest of your team?
If you read other articles (right here in the3pointcinversion.com) you’ll see that Brady is definitely not throwing a fastball these days and the short-to-medium passes are his bread and butter. Gronkowski will definitely be favored over all of Brady’s targets including Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Will they be able to handle that lack of attention?
The last time we saw Gronkowski do anything remotely athletic, he was hosting WWE’s Wrestlemania, running around competing for the heralded (sarcasm) 24/7 title. Is his mind and heart really still into playing football?
All roads lead to disaster to get a guy who most likely won’t play as great as we are used to seeing. Even if they are successful as a tandem once again, that’s going to be a very short period of time. The winning window with Brady was already small how big did it get with the acquisition of “Gronk”?