Insider discusses how Rob Gronkowski revealed his retirement plan that shocked entire NFL world - “Fu*k it”

Rob Gronkowski has always done things his own way, and his retirement was no different. NFL Insider Jordan Schultz recently revealed how the legendary tight end let him know his decision to step off the field less than half an hour before actually doing it.

When Schultz contended that the news could leak and there was an imperative to speed up the announcement, Gronkowski took a spur-of-the-moment decision and told him that he is retiring then and there.

Schultz said:

“He called me and he says, ‘Yeah, I'm going to retire and you can announce it’, but I need to wait 15 or 20 minutes and like a minute later I was like this is gonna get leaked. Is there any way we can speed up that process? And then it was like, I don't know. 30 seconds later, he was like, ‘Fu*k it just go put it out.’ It was like an avalanche.”

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The many retirements of Rob Gronkowski

For all the talk about Rob Gronkowski's retirement and how it transpired, one has to remember that his second innings in the NFL took place after he had already retired once.

The tight end made his name playing for the New England Patriots, receiving for legendary quarterback Tom Brady. However, he called time on his career due to the various injuries he suffered. There was no indication that he would come back from his initial retirement, but then after Tom Brady moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from Foxborough, a change of mind for Gronkowski was in the offing.

When Tom Brady needed to win another Lombardi Trophy with his new team, he needed tools that he was familiar with. He asked the tight end to rescind his retirement and come back to the NFL. Had it been anyone else, there was a chance that Gronkowski would not have returned to professional football. However, he could not turn down Brady- the greatest quarterback of all time.

The decision to come back was justified because both Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski got another Super Bowl while playing for the Buccaneers. They proved that they did not need the tutelage of Bill Belichick to succeed. Once he had achieved that objective, Gronk had no reason to stick around and took his second retirement to permanently move away from professional football.