NFL owners rarely comment on any rumors or speculation regarding trades and other roster moves with their teams, but New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft heard a report last week that was so outlandish he couldn’t remain silent about it.
Speaking at a community event on Tuesday, Kraft said any talk of him vetoing a Rob Gronkowski trade to keep Tom Brady happy is “a bunch of hogwash.”
Video: Robert Kraft, after the Myra Kraft Community MVP event, goes on record with strong denial of trade rumors (re: Rob Gronkowski). pic.twitter.com/Sw4ZAtPUlr
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) June 12, 2018
Here’s the report Kraft was referring to:
From multiple sources, here's what I have re: the Gronk rumors. Told Belichick wanted to trade him. Offers on the table w both the Titans and 49ers. He and Robert Kraft had a closed-door meeting to discuss. Tom Brady threatened to retire if the deal went through. Kraft nixed it.
— Adam Kurkjian (@AdamKurkjian) June 8, 2018
There were a number of unconfirmed reports that the Patriots were on the verge of trading Gronkowski on Friday, but nothing ever came of them. We’ll probably never know if that had anything to do with Kraft vetoing a potential deal. As it stands, there are plenty of reasons to believe the Patriots are going to work something out with Gronk.
