Tampa Bay Reveals First Look at Rob Gronkowski in Buccaneers Uniform

It's now really official for Rob Gronkowski and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This week, the Bucs [...]

It's now really official for Rob Gronkowski and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This week, the Bucs revealed Gronk in his new uniform after being traded to the team in April. Gronkowski returns to the NFL after retiring when the 2018 season came to an end. Gronkowski spent nine seasons with the New England Patriots and joins Tom Brady who signed with the Bucs in March.

When the trade was official, Gronk talked about how he wanted to play with Brady once he signed with the Bucs. "I said if there's a right opportunity out there, and you go somewhere, and the opportunity is right, even if you go back to the Patriots ... there's a possible chance I would definitely love to reconnect," Gronkowski said to reporters. "Playing with Tom is special. He's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. To build a connection with a quarterback, too, is something special."

When Brady officially joined the Bucs, he petitioned for the team to trade for Gronk. Despite being retired, the Patriots still had the rights to Gronkowski as they placed him on retired/reserve. "Tom brought it up to me, and I didn't even think it was a possibility that [Gronkowski] wanted to come back," Bucs head coach Bruce Arians said on NFL Live in May. And [Brady] was adamant about, yeah, he really wants to play; he'd love to play with us. So [general manager] Jason Licht got the ball rolling with the Patriots, the conversation was there, and he's working out, he's in great shape and he's raring to go. So we're really looking forward to getting on the practice field."

Gronkowski, 31, was drafted by the Patriots for 2010 and was a big reason the team had a lot of success in the 2010s decade. Gronk was named to the Pro Bowl five times while being named to the All-Pro First Team four times. He helped the Pats win the Super Bowl in 2015, 2017, and 2019 and was named Comeback Player of the Year in 2014. In his nine seasons in the NFL, Gronkowski caught 521 passes for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns. He was recently named to the 2010s All-Decade Team and the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

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