Melanie Collins: “Just got off the phone with Bruce Arians- he told me the idea to bring Gronk to Tampa was Tom’s. And although he wasn’t sure it was going to be possible, Brady kept pushing with Gronk! Jason Licht reached out to NE to find out what it would cost to get him. The rest is history!”
Ian Rapoport: “Tom Brady has made no secret from anyone that he talked to that he wanted Rob Gronkowski on his new team wherever he would be, it was just a matter of did Gronk really want to come back and could it happen.”
CBS reporter Melanie Collins is reporting that Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians told her that Tom Brady convinced former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski to come out of retirement to join the reloaded Buccaneers, and says Brady was the sole reason why the Bucs ever thought to contact New England about their asking price for the four-time All-Pro,.
Collins’ announcement confirmed what NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport had been reporting, which was that Brady was telling NFL teams this offseason that he and Gronkowski were a package deal.
Gronkowski reportedly was always open to the idea of returning to the NFL, but it would only be on a team alongside Brady on a team not named the Patriots.