Rob Gronkowski’s agent will not rule out TE returning late in 2019 season

Rob Gronkowski officially announced his retirement from football on Sunday, but even the star tight end’s agent is not ruling out the possibility of a return at some point in 2019.

During a Monday appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up!,” Drew Rosenhaus said he would not be surprised if Gronkowski played “a few games” for the Patriots next season if they — and specifically Tom Brady — needed him and reached out.

Drew Rosenhaus on @GetUpESPN on Rob Gronkowski’s future: “If the team was struggling or they needed him at some point next year, and let’s just say hypothetically Tom Brady gave him a call and said ‘Rob, I need you.’ I wouldn’t be shocked if he came back to play a few games.”

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 25, 2019

Gronkowski’s emotional farewell on Instagram Sunday certainly made it seem as though his decision is permanent, but his agent would have a better idea of his thinking than most.

Interestingly enough, former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest recently floated the idea of Gronkowski skipping the offseason and the majority of 2019 before returning to play late in the year. The thinking is that the grind of training camp and a full season is too much for Gronk’s body to handle at this point, so it makes some sense. However, it’s unclear if Bill Belichick would be open to such an arrangement.

Gronkowski has a very close relationship with Brady, and it looked like the two were hinting after the Super Bowl that Gronk was planning to play in 2019. Perhaps there’s a scenario where that could still happen.