Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski opened up about his decision to retire from the NFL on Tuesday. He was speaking at an event where he announced he will be an advocate for players to be allowed to us CBD products for pain relief.
“I want to be clear to my fans. I needed to recover. I was not in a good place. Football was bringing me down, and I didn’t like it. I was losing that joy in life,” Gronkowski said via Mike Reiss, fighting back tears.
Gronk stated he could physically play right now but is not there mentally. He revealed it was when he suffered a quadriceps injury in Super Bowl LIII that he knew he was retiring.
“I got done with the game and I could barely walk,” he said. “I slept five minutes that night. I couldn’t even think. I was in tears in my bed after a Super Bowl victory. It didn’t make that much sense to me. And then, for four weeks, I couldn’t even sleep for more than 20 minutes a night. I was like, ‘Damn, this sucks.’ It didn’t feel good.
“It was one of the biggest, deepest thigh bruises I’ve ever gotten,” he added, noting it led to significant internal bleeding.
Gronkowski, 29, is the same age as Andrew Luck, who stunningly announced his retirement over the weekend. Gronk stated he felt empathy for Luck.
With Ben Watson suspended for the first month of the season and Matt LaCosse sidelined, it wouldn’t be shocking if the Patriots tried to convince Gronk to play but it doesn’t appear we’re near that at this point.
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