Patriots to Trade TE Rob Gronkowski to Bucs, Swap Draft Picks

The Bucs are luring Gronk out of retirement to join Tom Brady in Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have Tom Brady, and now, they're bringing his favorite target out of retirement to join him for another ride.

Rob Gronkowski is heading to the Bucs in a trade from the New England Patriots, and the two teams are swapping Day 3 draft picks in the deal, per multiple reports:

Trade, pending physical: Patriots are trading TE Rob Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers for a fourth-round pick, source tells ESPN.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 21, 2020

#Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski has taken his physical already, sources say. So the trade should happen: Gronk and a 7th for a 4th rounder.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 21, 2020

Rumors started to circulate earlier Tuesday about Gronkowski possibly eyeing a return to the NFL, and wanting to join Brady in Tampa Bay made plenty of sense. Still, it was only a hypothetical until the late afternoon, when things moved quickly and a deal was evidently struck.

Gronkowski retired after the 2018 season, and has been out of football since. He's still under contract with the Pats, which is why the Bucs had to trade for him, despite his being retired.

Now that Gronk is in the fold, don't be surprised if Tampa Bay looks to trade one of their other tight ends, either O.J. Howard or Cameron Brate, to clear some cap space and room on the depth chart.