Report: Pats Pay Early Bonus To Gronkowski, Will Likely Keep Him With Team Through 2019
BOSTON (CBS) -- You won't have to hear any speculation about Rob Gronkowski potentially becoming a free agent. The tight end will be staying in New England.
According to ESPN's Field Yates, the Patriots paid Gronkowski $4 million bonus this summer. That $4 million comes out of a $10 million option which the team would have had to decide on after the 2015 season, but now that only $6 million remains on the option, making it a near certainty that the Patriots will exercise it.
When they do exercise what is now the $6 million option, it will activate four more years on his deal, keeping him with the Patriots through 2019.
"The decision does not have any impact on the team's salary cap, and there are no additional tweaks to the contract for future years, but it puts to rest any conversation -- even if unlikely -- about whether the team would pick up Gronk's option," Yates wrote.
The Patriots drafted Gronkowski in the second round of the 2010 draft. In 65 career games, he's caught 308 passes for 4,379 yards and 54 touchdowns. He's also been credited with one rushing touchdown. In seven postseason games, he's caught 37 passes for 527 yards and six touchdowns. In Super Bowl XLIX, he hauled in a 22-yard touchdown pass as part of a six-catch, 68-yard performance. He scored a touchdown in all three Patriots postseason games this year.
