Rob Gronkowski Not Sure About Future: 'I'm Just Going To Celebrate'
ATLANTA (CBS) -- Rob Gronkowski is not going to make a decision about his future just yet. Instead, he'll be busy partying.
Gronkowski will decide whether to retire or keep his football career going in the couple of weeks. For now, the tight end is much more interested in celebrating his third Super Bowl title with the New England Patriots.
"I'm just going to celebrate tonight. I'm not thinking about [my future] tonight," Gronkowski told WBZ-TV's Steve Burton after team's 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII. "That's for the next week or two, to see where I'm at."
No one should be shocked to hear that Gronk's mind is on the celebration, especially when he revealed this interesting nugget at the podium a few minutes later.
"Bill told me he's partying tonight, so you know it's going to be good," he said of head coach Bill Belichick.
Retirement talk has surrounded Gronkowski for much of the season, after he admitted to at least evaluating his future following last year's Super Bowl defeat. His production in the pass game dipped during the 2018 regular season, but he showed in the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl that he's still capable of putting up big numbers.
Gronkowski had six receptions for 87 yards (how fitting) in Sunday's victory, coming through with two huge catches on New England's only touchdown drive of the game early in the fourth quarter. He started the drive with an 18-yard reception up the right sideline, and three plays later, hauled in a 29-yard connection with Tom Brady to get the Patriots down to the Los Angeles 2-yard line. Sony Michel ran it in for New England's lone touchdown on the next play, giving the Patriots a 10-3 lead at the time.
"We grinded this out and we're Super Bowl champs. It's just unbelievable," Gronkowski said. "This was the most satisfying year I've ever been apart of. The obstacles we had to overcome. The grind in training camp till now. The obstacles that we went through; we went through life together this year.
"We figured it out, found our identity: Keep on grinding," he said. "We weren't making flashy plays, maybe once in a awhile. but we grinded it out and now we're Super Bowl champions."
In nine seasons, all with the Patriots, Gronkowski has caught 521 passes for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns (plus one more score that went down as a rushing touchdown). With Sunday night's production, he now owns 81 receptions for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in 16 playoff games, including a touchdown in Super Bowl XLIX vs. Seattle and a pair of touchdowns in Super Bowl LII vs. Philadelphia.
Gronkowski faced retirement questions all week, and he answered them as honestly as he could, saying that he'd have to wait until the season ended to decide on his future. Now that the season is over, that wait will continue for at least a few more weeks as Gronkowski and his teammates soak up yet another Super Bowl title.