By Jordan Long
The New England Patriots are considering trading tight end Rob Gronkowski. He is their top tight end and dealing him isn’t out of the question. Head Coach Bill Belichick is frustrated with him. According to sportingnews.com, the reason is the “longer Gronkowski goes without saying he’s all in, the chances of him being traded increases.”
Gronkowski is a big target for Tom Brady. Brady feeds him the ball because Gronkowski is a mismatch for opponent’s defense. Teams try to cover him in so many ways. They try putting linebackers on him but he is too fast for them to cover. Safeties and cornerbacks cover him but Gronkowski uses his size at 6 foot 6 inches to catch the football.
In his career Gronkowski has 474 catches for 7,179 yards and 76 touchdowns and his average yards per catch is an impressive 15.1. Gronkowski holds onto the football while running downfield. He has only fumbled 3 times and lost 2 of them.
The Patriots may trade him because of his salary cap number hit of $10 million this upcoming season and $12 million next year. Freeing up his cap number allows the Patriots to save money for free agents and draft picks. The only downside is his contract is a lot of money for a team to take on this late in free agency. They may ask Gronkowski to take a pay cut or restructure his current contract so the cap hit isn’t as large.
On the other hand, they shouldn’t trade him. The Patriots know how valuable Gronkowski is to the offense. Letting him go makes the offense less dangerous.
The Patriots must decide what is best for the team. They need to look at the future and if Gronkowski isn’t part of it, make a transaction. It could be for more draft picks. NFL teams want him because of how special of a player he is. The Patriots will make a decision soon.
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