Rob Gronkowski maintained he's happy in retirement last week and would tell Tom Brady no if asked to come back to the New England Patriots. But the former tight end reportedly got in some reps with his ex-QB anyhow.
Gronk caught passes from Brady during a private workout Monday at UCLA, Andrew Callahan of Mass Live reported. The tight end was in Los Angeles for a charity basketball game Monday and has said he'd be at the ESPYs later in the week, so the timing lines up.
Brady has been known to bring in both teammates and non-teammates for throwing sessions during the summer to keep sharp.
After announcing his retirement in March, Gronk has stiff-armed speculation he might return. He joined the Rich Eisen Show last week and insisted he's enjoying his downtime. He also admitted to losing nearly 18 pounds, down to around 250 pounds after being listed at 268 last year. While saying he's done with football, Gronk also left the door open a smidge.
"There's definitely going to be times when you miss it and everything," Gronkowski told Eisen. "I would always say that it's still the offseason right now. I mean I can't really say how I'm going to feel about it when the games start rolling around and everything. You know, I just felt like it was time. I feel really good right now and it was just definitely something I felt like it was the right time and the right thing to do. To have that load off your back, I mean I've been playing football for 15 years straight in a row of that grind. Just relaxing right now feels good."
Could having a catch with Papa Brady get Gronk's nostalgia going?
The tight end likely wouldn't return in July and would need to bulk back up before any sort of return, but the speculation won't end until Gronk officially sits out the entire season.
