Rob Gronkowski has been retired for less than six months. Since then he's been asked a time or two if he's going to play football again.
"An insane amount," he recently told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. "Everywhere I go. Everywhere."
His latest answers won't quiet the question anytime soon.
The former New England Patriots tight end appeared on the latest episode of the RapSheet and Friends podcast and asserted he would need just "a month" to ramp up training and get back on the field.
"If that," Gronkowski said, adding he currently weighs 245 pounds, about 15-20 less than his playing weight. "I could easily go out there right now and go. Easily. For sure."
In the same conversation, the future Hall of Famer makes it clear how happy he is to be healthy again, noting that his last two years were particularly grueling. With the 2019 season set to kickoff in the coming days, Gronk didn't sound like someone planning a comeback but instead rejuvenated by retirement.
Still just 30 years old, time off could just prove to be a necessary recharge given how much was left in the tank when he last took the field. Gronkowski capped off his final season with a key catch late in the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Rams.
He said he'll know that he's ready to return if the passion to play begins to linger within.
"Just like I knew I needed to walk away from the game. I just felt it. Just felt like it was time," Gronkowski explained. "You just have that feeling inside. Just going with the heart, just going with the gut feeling, and that's how I'm going to be living my life too, with what my gut feeling is telling me. Throughout my life I've had gut feelings and then I didn't go with them. I went with a different option, and then it never works out. I swear it never does.
"You always want to go with what you're truly feeling, even if it doesn't make sense to someone else. If it makes sense to you then it makes sense to do that. If I get the gut feeling, that's what I would need. My soul would have to be on fire, and I wouldn't just listen to it for one day. It would have to be a consistent basis, too."
Check out the entire segment for more words of wisdom from Gronk and a few stories, including Tom Brady sitting in on special teams meetings.
