Rob Gronkowski teases signing a one-day contract to retire as a Patriot

A few weeks after Tom Brady was given a statue at Gillette Stadium, another Patriots icon may be getting set for his long-awaited farewell in Foxborough.

Former New England tight end Rob Gronkowski told reporters during this week’s Gronk Playground launch on the Esplanade that he intends to sign a one-day contract to formally retire as a Patriot.

Return for a day, a weekend, or whatever. Gronkowski told reporters, “We’ll make it happen, and it’s going to be a really, really cool moment.” It will take place. We simply don’t know.

Gronkowski attributed the one-day contract to Susan Hurley, the president and creator of CharityTeams, who assisted in obtaining the financing for the Gronk Playground.

Hurley reportedly brought up the notion of Gronkowski formally retiring as a player in New England, where he played for the first nine seasons of his career and earned three Super Bowl championships, to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Gronkowski said.

“I really enjoy that,” Gronkowski remarked. Susan Hurley is the reason we’re actually going to accomplish that. That’s what she wants to happen. She had been having dreams about something for some time. She received a thumbs up from [Kraft]. We will therefore make it happen in the future, and it will be a unique occasion.

Gronkowski still has strong links to New England even though he spent two seasons in Tampa Bay, where he and Brady earned another Super Bowl championship.

During the Gronk Playground’s opening, Gronkowski broke down in tears as he talked about the significance of the Patriots and this market to him.

Gronkowski fought back some emotions as he said to the audience, “Excuse me, you still have me moved.”

Throughout my career, the [region] of New England supporters have showed me love and support, and I came up with the notion to return the favor to the Boston area,” Gronkowski continued. From the very beginning. They enjoyed it, even if I was being a fool. He said, “You guys loved it.” So, thank you very lot. It greatly improved my performance.

Since 2023, Conor Ryan has worked as a staff writer for Boston.com, covering the Boston Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.