What does a former Bucs tight end do when he gets bored? For many of us we watch television, go for a run, spend time with the family, or clean the house. But it would seem for a future Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski the trick to curing boredom may be unretiring.

Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Gronkowski, who retired from football after the 2021 season reached out to the Bucs around Thanksgiving about returning to football and the team to help the team with their season-long struggles. Stroud details in his column that head coach Todd Bowles downplayed the communication as mostly a touch base, rather than any full-blown negotiation.

“It was more of a conversation than anything else. Usually, when you have to think about playing, you probably don’t want to play. When it’s just a discussion, I didn’t think much of it at the time.” Bowles said of the situation.

Apparently the two sides did get far enough to hash out possible scenarios for how Gronkowski could return to the team, including initially signing him to the practice squad to allow him to get into football shape. Stroud did report the team was prepared to sign the former All-Pro straight to the active roster if that was deemed the best course of action.

Gronkowski, much like the future Hall of Fame quarterback he has been inextricably linked to throughout his career, has flirted with retirement and return before. The former New England Patriot retired from football for a year following the 2018 season.

After sitting out all of 2019 he returned to the game in 2020, effectively forcing his trade to the Bucs. This allowed Gronkowski to win his fourth Super Bowl in 2020. Over his two seasons with the Bucs Gronkowski played in 34 games including the postseason. Over that time period he caught 117 passes for 1,651 yards and 16 touchdowns while helping the Bucs average over 30 points per game.

Former Bucs TE Gronk Has Said He’s Bored

More recently Gronkowski stoked public fuel to the fire that he may return when he tweeted a very ominous message to his 3.2 million Twitter followers.

I’m kinda bored 😐…

— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) December 21, 2022

It turns out though that the tweet was in conjunction with a partnership with FanDuel.

Since Gronkowski’s retirement the Bucs have struggled to the tune of a 6-8 record, largely on the backs of a stagnant offense that has struggled to average just under 18 points per game. Current Bucs tight ends Cade Otton, Cameron Brate, Ko Kieft and Kyle Rudolph have combined to catch 66 passes for 631 yards and just three touchdowns.

While it does not look like a reunion between the Bucs and their former star tight end are in the works, it appears it isn’t for lack of mutual interest between the two parties.