Fans around the NFL have spotted something rather strange in Rob Gronkowski’s note following the announcement that he will be retiring.

One of the best, and arguably the best player, to ever play the position of tight end called it a career yesterday as former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski announced that he was retiring.

In an announcement across his social media platforms, the 33-year-old, more affectionately known as ‘Gronk’, said that he “will now be going back into my retirement home, walking away from football again with my head held high knowing I gave it everything I had, good or bad, every time I stepped out on the field.”

When it comes to ‘giving everything he had’, what he had was an incredible mix of size, strength and speed that meant he was too physical for any corner or safety to deal with and was too fast for any linebacker either.

All of which made him the perfect weapon in the passing game.

Gronk becomes the tight end G.O.A.T

Across his career, Gronkowski racked up 10,675 receiving yards in both the regular and postseason whilst hauling in 108 touchdowns and even adding in one rushing touchdown for good measure. Those numbers turned into a number of accolades as he was named First-team All-Pro four times and was named to 5 Pro Bowls, a spot in the 2010s All-Decade team and the NFL’s 100th-anniversary all-time team. 

And whilst Antonio Gates does have the record for most touchdowns by a tight end with 118, he did it across 248 career games, whereas Gronkowski was able to put his numbers up across the span of 165. 

Meaning that if injuries didn’t play their part in his career, he would have broken that number and almost certainly run it up to a level that may never have been surpassed. 

The vast majority of those numbers came when he was with the New England Patriots, the team he played for from 2010 - 2018 and who he became a critical part of their continuing dynasty, winning three Super Bowl rings with them during the 2010s. 

However it seems as if the Patriots weren’t on his mind when he decided to step away from the game.

Not sending much love back to Foxborough

During his retirement speech, he mentioned the Buccaneers, saying that it was his dream to play for the franchise, however there was no mention of the team that drafted him and helped make him the star that he is today, something that some people on social media were very quick to spot:

It should be worth noting that whilst the Buccaneers thanked Gronkowski on social media afterwards, there has been no such mention from the Patriots, so perhaps there are some feelings coming out about both sides and how they really feel about eachother.