Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Rob Gronkowski understands Tom Brady response to latest retirement question

Retired tight end Rob Gronkowski understands why Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady offered such a strong response to the latest public question about his playing future. 

"I'm not surprised," Gronkowski said about the subject during the latest edition of FanDuel's "Up & Adams" program, as shared by Matt Hladik of The Spun. "You can only get pushed so far and asked that question so many times, especially when you truly don't know what you're going to do."

During Monday's episode of the "Let's Go!" SiriusXM show and podcast, Brady dropped f-bombs after legendary broadcaster and long-time friend Jim Gray asked the signal-caller about his plans for the 2023 season. 

"If I knew what I was going to f------ do I would’ve already f------ done it," Brady responded. The seven-time Super Bowl champion's reaction went viral, was questioned by some individuals such as Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio and was laughed at by NFL Network personality Rich Eisen.

Gronkowski originally retired after the 2018 NFL season but returned to join Brady with the Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 campaign. Thus, the 33-year-old who retired again last offseason has a unique familiarity with Brady's situation. 

"The first time I retired, wherever I went, everybody would just ask 'Are you going back to football? Are you going back to football?' It would actually drive you crazy after you heard it the 100th time in a row within a week," Gronkowski explained. 

Gronkowski is again fielding questions about his future in part because Brady can hit free agency when the new league year opens in March. A report from last week said Brady "wants to take a month or two" before announcing a decision, but that isn't stopping some from linking TB12 and Gronkowski with the Las Vegas Raiders assuming the "best friends" would team up for one final run. 

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