Lots of thoughts going through my mind with this. I was in the “ok with trading him crew”, because I didn’t like the way he was acting out. Sue me, I’m old and old school. Thoughts:
1) I wonder if Belichick would STILL trade Gronk. I wonder if he told him, “If you want to leave, nobody will trade for you if they don’t know if you’re playing.” Gronk’s trade value is much higher now, now that he commit. I don’t think it’ll happen, but wouldn’t shock me if that happened.
2) If he hadn’t commit, and the Pats traded him, I think they would’ve gone after a very talented TE early in the draft (no later than 2nd round). Now I’m not sure they will even draft a TE.
3) My other thought process was, say you traded Gronk, your worst return MIGHT’VE been a 2nd round pick, probably a 1st round pick. I think Mike Gesicki or Dallas Goedert would’ve been animals in this offense. Now we will probably never know. Obviously they wouldn’t have been as great as Gronk, but they sure would’ve been the second best receiving TE we’ve had since Gronk. Maybe as good as he who shall not be named, who was pretty damned good.
4) I really worry about the injury factor with Gronk. Sure he was really special last year (Great SB), but those injuries have really started to pile up, probably why he was thinking about retirement. Not drafting that top tier TE, could be a huge negative. Let’s face it, Gronk probably retires after THIS season (if we win it all again), or after the 2019 season (last year of contract I believe). Also, worrying about him missing games, and not having a similar type TE weapon is a day to day reality for Pat’s fans.
All that being said, I love me some Gronk (have a Gronk Jersey), I hope he never leaves, and hope he retires a Patriot.
