Rob Gronkowski suggests he and Tom Brady are permanently retired

Perhaps Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady really are a package deal this offseason, after all. 

As shared by The Athletic's Jeff Howe, Gronkowski said during a Super Bowl LVII media session on Tuesday that he's "done" playing even if Brady or somebody else recruits him to come out of retirement. 

"Tom is not reopening that door," Gronkowski remarked about his longtime teammate who retired for a second time last Wednesday. "I don’t know. Maybe he is. I don’t know." 

Howe added that "Gronkowski sounded fairly certain of his pronunciation that Brady was equally done with his own playing days before catching himself." 

Gronkowski first retired while with the New England Patriots after the 2018 season but returned to join Brady with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the spring of 2020. Together, the duo helped the Buccaneers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, and the tight end then played during the 2021 campaign before he retired for a second time this past June. 

Gronkowski and Brady had repeatedly been linked in stories and rumors with the Las Vegas Raiders until the seven-time Super Bowl champion declared last week he was retiring "for good." It sounds like such a reunion is off the table even though Gronkowski admitted he was "definitely shocked a little bit" Brady elected to ride off into the sunset this winter. 

Gronkowski also repeated a previous take and said that he "felt like Tom could play until 50 years old." 

Over the past week, Brady has completed a couple of interviews and insisted that "it’s certainly the right time" to retire so that he can "do other things." Tom Brady Sr. has suggested his son's divorce from Gisele Bündchen after 13 years of marriage affected the decision to call it quits.

Now a single father, Brady has one son living in New York and two children living in Florida. 

"But he chose to hang it up at 45, and I’m proud of him," Gronkowski continued about Brady. "I’m proud to be his teammate. I’m proud of everything he has accomplished. I’m just happy for him, whatever he chooses to do next." 

Brady announced earlier this week he's waiting until 2024 to become Fox's lead NFL analyst via a 10-year deal reportedly worth $375 million that he agreed to in 2022. Gronkowski made appearances as an in-studio NFL analyst for Fox this season and said Tuesday that working alongside Brady for the network is "definitely a possibility."