Rob Gronkowski spoke to other teams before re-signing with Buccaneers

Rob Gronkowski was never likely to play for anyone but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, but the veteran tight end did his due diligence upon hitting the open market.

Meeting with the media on Monday, Gronkowski admitted that he had listened to pitches from other teams, specifically the Buffalo Bills, before ultimately returning to the Buccaneers on a one-year contract.

“There was a little extent to that,” Gronkowski said when asked if he’d spoken to the Bills, via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. “I mean, I was a free agent, so as a free agent, you’re allowed to talk to other teams. There was a couple of other teams, also. But just overall I wanted to be back with the Buccaneers organization. Just the setup here is just unbelievable. Just the chemistry that I’ve built over the last season is just fantastic. So just overall I wanted to come back to the Buccaneers.

“But, you know, it’s football, you never know how things are gonna play out. So it’s just good to listen to what else is out there, and there was something to a little extent. … I knew I wanted to be here.”

Given Gronk’s closeness with Tom Brady, it would’ve been a stunner had he gone anywhere else. It took the Buccaneers to pull him out of retirement last year, after all. That said, you can’t really blame a team like the Bills for shooting their shot. They’ve been pushing hard for other veteran stars, too.

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