Rob Gronkowski on controlling his destiny as he signs one-year deal with Buccaneers

This year’s off-season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a special one. Celebrating life as champions, they’re resting, healing, and looking forward to their next chance to get back on the field to defend their status.

Of course, part of the off-season for a lot of players involves making the media rounds. Some do interviews, some get some practice as future analysts, some even do game shows.

When you’re Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski, every public appearance is basically all of those things rolled up into one.

Appearing last week on ‘10 Questions with Kyle Brandt’ recently with girlfriend Camille Kostek, Gronkowski got to focus on the fun part of the off-season more than usual. Trivia and fun stories are all the rage when appearing on the show, and these two certainly delivered.

I won’t ruin the final score for the couple in case you haven’t seen the episode yet, but I will share some quotes from Gronk himself.

“I definitely want to be back with the Buccaneers,” Gronkowski said, after being asked by Brandt about the free-agency process. “That’s where my eye sight is. That’s where I’m leaning towards, big time. But, you know, with the free-agency process you just never know what may happen.”

Of course, since making this comment, it’s been reported Gronkowski will in fact be returning to Tampa Bay on a one-year deal.

What’s interesting about Gronkowski’s comments to Brandt about his free-agency experience is his plan to be a one-year deal player, every year, moving forward.

“I’m planning on being a free-agent after every season,” Gronkowski said. “I feel like I’m a one-year deal guy for the rest of my career.”

The intention it seems was for the future Hall of Fame tight end to return to Tampa all along. So while he took some calls and entertained some offers, he says it was all in an effort to get comfortable with the process so he has a leg-up in future free-agent periods.

Interesting still, however, is the report coming from NFL Network’s own Michael Silver who says the tight end considered a similar offer to the one Tampa Bay made him, from the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills fell one game short of going to the Super Bowl themselves, having lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. Adding a star tight end like Gronkowski certainly would have added firepower to their offense, and could have helped quarterback Josh Allen take another step towards the top of NFL quarterback rankings.

As it is, Gronk is back in Tampa and the Buccaneers are looking forward to making another run at a Super Bowl title. It would be Tom Brady’s eighth, and Gronk’s sixth. With Gronkowski taking a year-to-year approach though, it could be their last, together.

We’ll worry about all of that later though, and just enjoy having the duo in town together as long as we have them. Speaking of Brady, his trusted tight end also defended his ‘infamous’ trophy toss during the very entertaining episode.

If you haven’t caught it yet, I highly recommend you do.