The rumors of a Rob Gronkowski return won’t cease anytime soon.
Speaking on Tuesday at a press conference in New York City to announce his partnership with CBD Medic, an Abacus Health Products company, Gronkowski certainly didn’t close the door on a second stint in pro football.
“If I have the desire to play football again, if I feel passionate about football again, if I’m feeling like I need to be out there on the field, I will go back to football,” Gronkowski told reporters.
“But as of right now, that is not the case. It could be the case in six months. It could be the case in two years. It could be the case in three years. It could be the case in three months. But I truly don’t see it in the foreseeable future – in, like, a week or a month. No. I want to do a different chapter of my life right now.”
Gronkowski admitted that the game had worn him down, and that he needed a break.
“I want to be clear to my fans: I needed to recover,” Gronkowski said. “I was not in a good place. Football was bringing me down, and I didn’t like it. And I was losing that joy in life.”
The legendary tight end indicated that his decision had as much to do with his mental health as it did his physical well-being.
“I could run fast right now, I’m feeling good,” Gronkowski said. “Physically-wise, I could do it. But mentally-wise, desire-wise, it’s not there. My mind, my soul keeps telling me, ‘You need more time off.’ When I feel like my body’s top-notch, my soul, my mind, mentally and physically, I’m ready, then I would go back to the NFL – if I ever get to that point.”
Of course, a myriad of injuries over the years took a toll on Gronkowski. He described the final blow – a quad injury suffered in Super Bowl LIII – in great detail. Gronkowski said he couldn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time for a month after the Super Bowl because of the pain. He said he had one liter of blood drained from his leg throughout the month.
Gronkowski implored pro sports leagues to allow the use of CBD products, using his own story as evidence of their success.
“I was hurt both mentally and physically (from football),” Gronkowski said. “For the first time in more than a decade, I am pain-free.”
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