Bengals Free Agency: 5 tight end options if C.J. Uzomah isn’t retained

3. Rob Gronkowski

With Tom Brady retired from the NFL (for now at least), what will his right-hand man do? Rob Gronkowski retired from football after the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2018 and then unretired when Brady signed with the Buccaneers so that he could join his buddy for a new adventure.

Gronkowski has gone on the record saying that he’d be interested in catching passes from Joe Burrow and that could make him a free-agent target for Cincinnati this offseason. Gronkowski isn’t the player he used to be but he still had a really productive 2021 season, grabbing 55 receptions for 802 yards and six touchdowns. Those are still damn good numbers for a 32-year-old tight end.

Gronkowski is injury-prone so the Bengals would need to be cautious of that if they signed him. Spotrac doesn’t predict that he’ll make huge money on this next deal, projecting just a one-year deal worth $9.5 million.

Adding Gronkowski is risky because he is injury prone but when he’s healthy and able to take the field, he definitely packs a punch. I’m skeptical that he still wants to play without Brady but we’ll have to see how free agency shakes out.