Gronkowski retires from the NFL after a dominant career and leaves an unrivalled legacy

After nine memorable and oftentimes dominant seasons in the National Football League, Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement from pro football on Instagram on Sunday.  Despite a relatively short career of nine years, Gronkowski leaves behind a legacy that will be difficult for any tight end, or even receiver, to match in NFL history.

A second round pick out of Arizona in 2010, Gronkowski was able to amass 521 catches for over 7800 yards and 79 touchdowns.  His numbers led him to five Pro Bowl appearances, was named first team All-Pro four times in his career and helped lead the Patriots to three Super Bowls. 

He is without a doubt, absolutely assured a place in the Hall of Fame on the very first ballot but the more interesting question may be where Gronkowski ranks in the history of his position?

If you look at career numbers, Gronkowski’s numbers don’t quite stack up against his fellow Tight end greats.  When you look at reception totals, former Kansas City Chief and Atlanta Falcon great Tony Gonzalez has almost 2.5 times as many catches as Gronkowski has with 1,325 catches.  The Cowboys Jason Witten has over a thousand catches as well and current Chargers great Antonio Gates is coming close to the thousand catch plateau as well.

However, Gronkowski’s greatness does not come from longevity (as he spent dealt with many injuries in his nine year tenure that limited his time on the field) but his explosiveness. Gronk’s combination of size and speed made him one of the most dominant pass catchers in the game during his career. The Patriot’s tight end was one of the most efficient and explosive receivers of all time.

According to Pro Football reference, Gronkowski averaged about 9.9 yards per target which is the best since 1992, when the statistic was created. He bests such explosive wideouts as Julio Jones and Michael Irvin. He was even more effective in the red zone, where he averaged a touchdown on every 6.6 catches in his career.  This puts him in such rarefied air of such receiving greats as Randy Moss, Lance Alworth and Don Hutson, and is the only tight end with that level of scoring efficiency. His 79 total receiving touchdowns puts him at third all time amongst tighe ends and he was able to accomplish this in nearly half the time as the two ahead of him, Gonzalez and Gates.

Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady are one of the most effective duos in NFL history (photo credit: USA Today)

While tight end has increasingly become a receiving position, to truly be a great tight end, being a great blocker is essential and Gronkowski excelled in this regard as well.  Gronkowski was an excellent run blocker and often relished his role as a blocker. His ability as both an effective run and pass blocker allowed the Patriots to keep him from being subbed and helped the team disguise run or pass plays.  Gronkowski’s love for being an excellent blocker can be summarized best by Bills linebacker, Lorenzo Alexander’s description of a block during a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Colts:

“I actually think he likes doing it,” said Alexander. “A lot of tight ends don’t want to do it but he actually kind of relishes the moment where he can maybe drive you back. Three or four years ago he actually drove [a safety]like, out of the end zone and put him on his back.”

In the discussion of what makes a player the best at his position, the most important aspect to consider is what the player did when the stakes were at their highest and this is where Gronkowski was pretty close to peerless.  In his 16 playoff appearances, Gronkowski is tied for the second most touchdowns of any pass catcher with John Stallworth and only one of the greatest players of all time, Jerry Rice. Even this past season, as he was a shell of himself due to the myriad of injuries he has picked up over the years, he was still the Patriots primary downfield weapon, averaging 16.4 yards per reception.  It was one of his final catches, a 29 yard reception that set the Patriots on the goaline, that led to the go-ahead touchdown in Super Bowl LIII.

Rob Gronkowski’s larger than life personality will be missed in the Boston area (photo credit: USA Today Sports)

As Gronkowski moves on from the NFL, the Patriots will not just miss his contributions on the field but in a way, the team and the greater New England area will miss the person as well.  In an organization that can often be construed as lacking personality at times, Gronkowski was the perfect anecdote. The self described “party boy” had a ebullient personality that is somewhat lacking in some of the other key members of the team.  While Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are two of the greatest football minds the NFL has ever seen, they are not exactly endearing public figures and in a town as in touch with its sports teams as Boston, Gronkowski gave them the “everyman” type persona to root for.

As Gronk’s time in the NFL is over, the “No Fun League” is saying goodbye to one of its most fun players and the NFL, the New England Patriots will miss Gronkowski greatly.  Although he had a relatively short career, Gronkowski’s less than a decade of dominance will not soon be forgotten.