Bengals Free Agency: 5 injury-prone free agents that are worth the risk

4. Rob Gronkowski

With C.J. Uzomah entering free agency, the Bengals’ starting tight end as of this moment is Drew Sample, who hasn’t shown that he’s capable of handling TE1 duties. Sample has one year remaining on his contract and with him not looking like the long-term answer, the Bengals could go in another direction.

Obviously re-signing Uzomah is something we’d all like to see happen but if it doesn’t happen, it’s not the end of the world for this team. Four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski has previously expressed interest in playing with Joe Burrow and that’s something the Bengals should look into.

Gronk retired following the 2018 season due to a plethora of injuries he had dealt with through the course of his career but he returned for the 2020 season when Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay. He’s not the same dominant Gronk he was early in his career but he still had over 800 receiving yards in 2021, which is more than Uzomah had and Gronk put up those numbers in fewer games.

Even with the injuries, Gronkowski has proven he’s still one of the best tight ends in the league. If he’s still wanting to play this year without Brady throwing to him, it makes sense for Cincinnati to reach out and see if there really is mutual interest there.

Signing Gronk isn’t a long-term fix at tight end, but it’s not like the team couldn’t also add a tight end in the draft.