Tampa Bay Buccaneers TE Rob Gronkowski to retire

On Tuesday, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski informed NFL insider Jordan Schultz that he's going to retire from the NFL.

Breaking: Rob Gronkowski tells me he’s retiring.

The future first ballot Hall of Famer won four Super Bowls while earning a spot on the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team and 2010s All-Decade Team.

An all-time great officially hangs em up at 33 years old.

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) June 21, 2022

After nine seasons with the New England Patriots, a brief one-year retirement, and two seasons with the Buccaneers, Gronkowski is putting an end to a career in which he transcended the tight end position and became one of the NFL's most colorful personalities.

A second-round pick out of Arizona in 2010, Gronkowski played 143 regular-season games, totaling 621 receptions for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns.

A mainstay of the postseason during his time in the league, he played in a further  22 playoff games, recording 98 receptions for 1,389 yards and 15 touchdowns — all records for a tight end.

Rob Gronkowski: PFF grades and rank in the PFF era

Click here to view Rob Gronkowski's career in PFF Premium Stats…

The 6-foot-6 tight end earned a PFF grade above 90.0 in seven of his 11 seasons, ranking first among his peers each year from 2011 to 2017.

Since 2010, his 4.54 wins above replacement (PFF WAR) ranks first at the position, beating Travis Kelce (3.98), Greg Olsen (3.55), Jimmy Graham (3.46) and Jason Witten (3.23).

Though he dealt with several injuries over the years, including back, ankle, hip, forearm, knee and head injuries, Gronkowski still appeared in five Super Bowls, winning four of them. He holds the PFF record for targets (40), receptions (29), receiving yards (364) and receiving touchdowns (5) in the Super Bowl.

In his 11 years on the NFL field, Gronk formed a partnership with quarterback Tom Brady that will live forever in the NFL record books.

Including the postseason, Brady completed 713 of his 1,067 attempts targeting his big tight end, racking up 10,575 yards, 105 touchdowns and only 24 interceptions in the process.

QB-Receiver Duos: Highest passer ratings generated since 2006 (including postseason; min. 100 targets)

Gronkowski's next stop will be Canton, where he will likely be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in five years' time.