Robert Kraft Is Reportedly Still Pulling for Rob Gronkowski to Return Before Playoffs

The New England Patriots are still hopeful Rob Gronkowski will make his return.

At the moment, Gronk is on the reserve/retired list, but he can still come back to the league by Nov. 30.  Patriots owner Robert Kraft is remaining hopeful, CBS Sports reports. In March, when Gronk announced his retirement, Kraft told him that he wanted him to return for November, December, and a playoff run.

Gronkowski hasn’t handed in his retirement papers just yet, which has added to the belief that he might come back. However, Gronk denied a return as recently as last month.

“When I retired, I retired for a reason,” he told WEEI 93.7, per CBS. “It would be a no. There it is.

“I’m enjoying myself right now. I don’t have that itch, and if I had that itch I’d go back. It would have to be a continuous itch. I see Tom [Brady] throw a nice touchdown pass, I’m like ‘I wish that was me.’ But that’s five seconds [and it’s gone].”

Kraft expressed his optimism that the five-time Pro Bowler could return to his former team, including last month when he appeared on NFL Network’s NFL Gameday Kickoff.

“We all love Gronk and I think the bottom line is he hasn’t put his retirement papers in,” Kraft said. “So we can always pray and hope…. That’s a good academic argument that there is hope for us still with Gronk.”

Even though Gronk announced his retirement in March, he has always kept the door open on the possibility of making a comeback. In an interview with Ian Rapaport in September, Gronk suggested that he would cave into the idea of a return to football if his desire to come back became too strong to ignore. 

“My soul would have to be on fire, and I wouldn’t just listen to it for one day,” he said. “It would have to be a consistent basis, too.”