Rob Gronkowski announces he's back for 2018 -- what does that mean for Patriots?

On Instagram Tuesday evening, tight end Rob Gronkowski announced he had met with coach Bill Belichick, and he will return to the Patriots for the 2018 season.

“I met with coach (Tuesday) and informed him I will be back for the 2018 season with the Pats. I have been working out, staying in shape and feel great. Looking forward to another championship run,” he wrote.

Gronkowski had kept people guessing since the moments after the Super Bowl, when he was strangely noncommittal about the possibility of playing in 2018. He followed that up with a series of cryptic statements on social media the last few months that were also pretty vague. That all culminated with a forgettable press conference on Saturday, part of a promotion for a motocross event at Gillette Stadium.

But now, the potential retirement talk appears to be done, and the tight end is back on board.

BSJ analysis: What does this mean for the Patriots?


So this is it, right? We're done with the drama, and it's time to focus on football?

One of the most eventful offseasons in recent franchise history wraps up this week with Gronkowski announcing that he’s committed to playing in 2018, a few days after it was revealed that Tom Brady was all-in on the coming season as well. Coincidence? I can’t say for sure, but the way they were positioned the last few months (most notably in that phone call in the “Tom vs. Time” documentary), it’s certainly easy to draw a line from one to the other. (It’s not unrealistic to think his press conference last weekend prompted the sit-down with Belichick, but it’s unlikely that we’ll ever really know.)

I’m hesitant to say that it’s all tied up in a neat little bow with both Gronkowski and Brady — just when you think everything has been squared away, this team has a way of throwing you a curveball when you least expect it. But at the same time, there’s certainly a greater sense of what the 2018 team will look like now, than say, a week ago. It will be interesting to see if they’re at Gillette for the next phase of the offseason program, but at this point, we’ll take things one step at a time.

With Brady and Gronkowski apparently now all in on 2018, it means a few things. In the short term, tight end is probably a little less of a priority in the coming draft than it was a few weeks ago. (Not to say they’d abandoned the idea entirely — just that it gets bumped down on the needs chart a few slots.) In the long term, you wonder about Gronkowski’s contract status moving forward. Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if we heard an announcement in the coming days that his contract had been sweetened in some form or fashion.

Ultimately, the announcement represents a win for New England, who will now welcome the most overwhelming offensive option in the league back for (at least) one more season. Yo soy fiesta, indeed.