On Monday the New England Patriots traded tight end Rob Gronkowski to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Pats received a 2020 fourth-round pick while the Bucs added Gronk and a 2020 seventh-round selection in the deal. Initially, it would seem that the Patriots failed by getting such a paltry return for arguably the best tight end in NFL history, but how did New England really make out in the Rob Gronkowski trade?
Rob Gronkowski Trade Right Move For New England Patriots
It seems hard to believe that all Tampa Bay had to give up to get Gronk and a seventh-round pick was a was a fourth-round pick. It’s even more difficult to understand when taking into account previous trades for tight ends like when the Atlanta Falcons acquired Hayden Hurst from the Baltimore Ravens for a second-round pick. But that’s what happened.
And the trade came to fruition largely because the formerly retired tight end wasn’t going to come back to the NFL to play for the Patriots, especially with Tom Brady no longer in New England. With the future Hall of Fame quarterback now in Tampa Bay, the only team Gronkowski was going to come out of retirement to join was the Bucs. That put the Patriots at an incredible disadvantage since there was only one team they could actually make a deal with.
Salary Cap
In addition, the Patriots held Gronk’s rights for only one more year and had he come back to the NFL to join the Patriots he was due to make $10 million in 2020. New England doesn’t have anywhere near the salary cap room to absorb that contract in 2020, thanks mainly to $24 million in dead money counting against the cap this coming season. To create room to pay Gronk the $10 million he was due from the Patriots in 2020 the team would have had to get really creative with some contracts.
Bill Belichik and Patriots Move on Early Instead of Too Late
The Patriots moving on from a player, no matter who they are, a little early rather than a year or two too late, has been how the organization has operated under Bill Belichick. The same technically holds true here. Before the 2018 season Belichick tried to deal the future Hall of Fame tight end to the Detroit Lions for a first-rounder and an exchange of second-round picks. Gronk threatened to retire right then and there and effectively nixed the whole deal.
True, the Patriots were primed to get more in return in that deal, but at the time they at least had the appearance of having more leverage since Gronk wasn’t retired and it wasn’t immediately obvious the tight end would play for only one team/quarterback.
Last Word
Rob Gronkowski can still be an incredible weapon in the NFL in certain situations (particularly on third down and in the red zone) but he’s not the player he once was and he certainly won’t play every down for Tampa Bay. New England had almost no leverage in this situation, but at the end of the day the Patriots and Bill Belichick still managed to turn a retired, aging tight end and a seventh-round pick into a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. The Rob Gronkowski trade was the right move for the Patriots.
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