Rob Gronkowski has returned to the NFL and now will need to rework his body back into NFL shape.
Gronk was listed at 6-foot-6 and 268 pounds when he played, but after his retirement following the 2018 season, he dropped a ton of weight.
The 4-time All-Pro tight end dropped down to 240 pounds after retirement and was pleased to achieve that outcome.
“My lowest I got to was 240 and it felt good, you know?” Gronk told CBS Sports last month, via the New York Post. “I’ve been above 260 pounds basically my whole entire life since high school. Since my senior year of high school — the end of senior year — I was 260. I’ve never been under 260 since then, so it felt good just to drop that weight. Ease up my joints, let my body, you know, free. I kind of felt like that weight was bloated weight, too.
“So it felt good to get rid of it, and now it’s time to build back upon it.”
Gronk is starting to build back some of his muscle, though he looks skinnier than he did in his Patriots playing days. That’s why when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers posted photos of Gronk in his new threads on Thursday, his longtime teammate, Tom Brady, poked some fun. Brady wrote in a comment on the Bucs’ post “#skinnygronk” along with a laughing emoji.
Despite looking like “skinny Gronk,” Gronk has recently said that his weight is back up and he’s close to his playing weight.
“Everyone thinks I’m like 240, 230, but I’m basically four more protein shakes away from being at my playing weight. So I’m excited about that and I’ll definitely be at my weight when it’s time to go. I’ll be around 260 to 265 when it’s time to roll,” Gronk told CBS Sports.
Now that he’s had a year off and is excited to be playing again, our guess is he will enter the 2020 season feeling rejuvenated. And by getting skinny during his time off, Gronk proved himself wrong based on what he said several years ago.
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