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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have hit the next transfer shot: Tight end Rob Gronkowski is the New England Patriots’ second superstar to Florida. But how fit is it and why was it so cheap? And: how does it fit into the system of head coach Bruce Arians? SPOX Editor Marcus Blumberg answers the most important questions.
1. Why was the Gronkowski trade so cheap for the Buccaneers?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers only gave Rob Gronkowski a four-round pick in this year’s draft, and they even got a seven-round pick from the Patriots. At first glance, a fairly manageable price for the best tight end in NFL history.
Basically, this statement may be true, but similar deals for really retired players have barely reached that price in the recent past. The Seattle Seahawks, for example, gave Marshawn Lynch to the Oakland Raiders in 2018 and basically traded a sixth for a five-round pick, and it’s not uncommon to reverse a four-round pick otherwise.
You have to go back a long time to find a similarly high price for a “football pensioner”: in 2008, the New York Jets sent a four-round conditional selection to Green Bay for Brett Favre, although Favre was technically retiring had declared his resignation .
Selection of four rounds for Gronk: expensive or cheap?
By contrast, the choice of four rounds is an attractive price, considering that New England actually had little room for negotiation. The Patriots had their backs to the wall, so to speak.
First of all, Gronk told them that he would like to play soccer again, but together with them. his Quarterback Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. So, chances are good that you haven’t played for the Patriots anyway, and there wouldn’t have been a commercial market with different bidders either.
Then keep in mind that the Patriots currently have just under a million dollars in Cap Space, Gronkowski, in turn, is capped at ten million dollars when he returns from retirement.
So that would have created huge problems for the Patriots if Gronkowski had put him there. The tight end could also have returned from retirement and put the gun in the Pats’ chest. In this regard, it can even be argued that the Bucs may have paid even more than necessary.
Meanwhile, New England receives a four-round pick for a player who wouldn’t have played for the Patriots anyway.
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