Gronk needs to have a greater impact with Tampa Bay

Already two games into the Gronk era in Tampa Bay, and it hasn’t quite been the fruitful return to football like many were hoping for.

C’mon, admit it, you too thought with Gronk returning to football after taking a year off, it meant he was likely healthy and happy again. And perhaps that also meant he’d be somewhat close to prime Gronk form.

Well, two games into the Tampa Bay era for Gronk and it appears that maybe the game of football has passed him a bit.

Arizona Wildcats

Slower, older, less impactful, it naturally happens to football players like Gronk when they get older. However, that doesn’t mean he still can’t be impactful, after all, great Tight Ends like Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates were still dominant even into the later parts of their careers.

Now I’m not saying that Gronk should have similar numbers, however, I do think he could have a greater impact.

Through two games with Tampa, and he has very un-Gronk-like numbers, as he just has two catches for 11 yards on four targets.

Is it the offense he’s in? Does head coach Bruce Arians just not utilize the the tight end position much? Or is it Gronk just being a step too slow nowadays that he can’t quite get open like he used to? Hard to imagine that he and Tom Brady have no chemistry after being apart just one year.

And given coach Arians’ comments about Gronk, it makes this situation all the more interesting. In an interview earlier in the week, Bruce said “We brought him [Gronk] in to just play tight end, if that means no catches, it means no catches.”

Seems like a peculiar response considering you have one of the greatest tight ends ever and are utilizing him primarily as a blocker.

Either way, that got me thinking that Gronk needs to have a bigger impact. Whether it’s him needing to step up and getting on the same page as Brady, or it’s Tampa needing to give him more looks, it’s clear he needs to have a bigger role.

At Zona Zealots, we’re hoping to see Gronk have some fun playing football again! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!