Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots March 24, 2019 - La Fiesta Ha Terminada

Episode Date: March 24, 2019

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there everybody, welcome to a melancholy, happy trails, emergency edition of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield here in the big chair for Sunday night, March 24th. There were things we all probably wanted to be doing that weren't talking about the retirement of Rob Gronkowski. But here we are. Rob Gronkowski has announced that he is going to retire. It came out via Adam Schefter.

A statement released via, of course, Instagram. That's where everybody does it now. Rob Gronkowski announced that he's going to step away from the game of football. You can see Gronk's sort of Instagram post. If you want, go to the gram, check it out yourself. I'll just quote part of it for you. It all started at 20 years old on stage at the NFL draft when my dream came true. And now here I am about to turn 30 in a few months with a decision I feel is the biggest

of my life so far. I will be retiring from the game of football today. I am so grateful for the opportunity that Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick gave to me when drafting my silliness in 2010. My life experiences over the last nine years have been amazing both on and off the field. The people I've met, the relationships I have built, the championships I have been a part of. I just want to thank the whole New England Patriots organization for every opportunity I have been given and learned in the great values of life that I can apply to mine. And so Gronk, his immediate legacy, I think, is solidified in stone. Let's think about the last time we will see Robert Gronkowski on a football field.

It was in Super Bowl 53 with the two biggest catches of that game. The drive starter where he caught that little vertical wheel route along the right sideline and then obviously the seam route when the Patriots ran Haas-Wye seam three straight times. As we predicted on this show that they were going to turn to that play, they did on that drive. Gronkowski with the big catch to get them down at the first and goal. The first time any team was sort of in the first and goal situation.

And they punched it in with Sonny Michel. And that will be everybody's sort of final memories of Gronk in a football uniform. And just a tremendous player, a tremendous talent. He will certainly be missed. He was a joy to watch over the past nine seasons. And we'll talk about his legacy in a few minutes but i do want to talk about the immediate impact on the new england patriots because we are nearing sort of

the end of free agency and the patriots had made an offer to jerry cook the tight end who went inside with the new Orleans Saints. Now, I've seen some people question, you know, the time of this is off if he had retired. And yeah, you know, it would have been nice if Gronk could have retired earlier, given the Patriots both the cap space and the more immediate need. At the same time, it might have sort of hamstrung them a bit.

Free agents might have been, well, you could probably pay me more now. And so there's that. And plus, I do think LeGronk, look, for what he meant to this organization since he was drafted, for what he meant to this team, he earned the right to sort of go out on his own terms. And if he needed some more time to figure things out,

to get his mind right, to think through this decision, which is, like you said, one of the biggest of his life, then I think he's earned that. And so I'm fine with him retiring what he did. Does it mean that the Patriots may have missed out on a Jared Cook? Yeah. But the flip side to that is this. This is a fantastic, fantastic draft class at the tight end position.

And you are going to get, whether it's T.J. Hawkinson, Noah Fant, Irv Smith Jr., I mean, those are first-round tight ends. The Patriots might have a shot out drafting one of those guys. But even into day two and even into day three, there are options at the tight end position. We've talked on this show, I've talked on the Twitter timeline about the possibility that the Patriots will double dip at the tight end position, and they might do it.

It might make a lot of sense. And so if there was a draft class to address tight end, even with the immediate need of Gronkowski's departure, this is a good one to do it. And so that's pretty good timing, you could say. Also, the Patriots, let's deal with the business end of this. They did have some financial concerns. We all know that the cap is a construct and you can work around it.

But in the near term, and this is from Miguel Benzon, at Pat's Cap on Twitter, he put up a piece immediately over Boston Sports Journal. I'm cribbing from it here. All credit to him. Please follow Miguel and get a BSJ subscription. It is incredibly worth it. I use it all the time. In the near term, his retirement creates $9.2 million in cap space for the Patriots,

as is 11.8 million cap numbers now off the books. The 11.8 consisted of a $9 million base salary, an $800,000 proration of his $4 million sign-on bonus, a $1.2 million proration of a $6.1 million option bonus, $250,000 in off-season workout bonus money, and around $600,000 or so in active man roster bonuses. Now, Cole Crosston's salary of $645,000 will replace Gronk's salary on the top 51 list. That's when you really get into the salary cap nitty-gritty. Now, there will be $2 million in dead money on the Patriots' cap, consistent of those two prorations of bonuses. They could ask him to pay them back,

but I can't believe they would do that. And per the CBA, teams are not allowed to ask payers to pay back unearned option bonus money. And so that gets them to $17,547,000 in cap space. That's more than enough to run for the 2019 league year, according to Miguel, who knows his stuff a lot better than I do. And so the retirement, while painful, it helps the Patriots from a financial perspective. So there is that. If he does un-retire, the cap number would be the $9 million base salary divided by 17 times the number of weeks remaining in the season plus the roster bonus, which is about $46,000 in those active man roster bonuses per week. So as Miguel puts it,

say Gronk unretires with nine weeks and nine games remaining in the season. His salary would then be $4.7 million or so, and his cap number would be $5.1 million or so. So that's kind of how the numbers work. But let's talk about Gronk's legacy here for a second. Okay? I mean, the Pro Football Hall of Fame tweeted this out. Congratulations on an outstanding career,

Rob Gronkowski. Perhaps we will see you in a few years. And they just listed a table of stats for tight ends in the pro football family. For example, you know, obviously, Tony Gonzalez

and to a lesser extent, Shannon Sharp, even to a lesser extent, Kellen Winslow. These are guys you might be compared to. lesser extent, Shannon Sharp. Even to a lesser extent, Kellen Winslow. These are guys you might be compared to. And yes, both Tony Gonzalez and Shannon Sharp had more yardage receiving. So did Ozzie Newsome. Shannon Sharp played for 14 years.

Newsome for 13. Gonzalez for 17. Gronk with 9. Touchdowns low by a tight end? Tony Gonzalez, yes, 111. That might not get caught. Maybe Kelsey if he plays a long time. But second is Gronk with 79.

I mean, just amazing numbers over the course of his career. And Sports Illustrated tweeted this out. Gronk is retiring with an absolutely preposterous amount of NFL records most receptions by a tight end in Super Bowl history 23, most receiving yards by a tight end in Super Bowl history 297 only tight end to ever lead

the league in receiving touchdowns 2011 only tight end with a thousand plus career postseason receiving yards most career postseason receiving yards by a tight end with over 1100 most touchdown receptions by a tight end with over 1,100. Most touchdown receptions by a tight end in a single season, 17. Most touchdowns by a tight end season, 18, because he had one Russian. Most single season record for receiving yards by a tight end, 1,327.

Most career postseason receiving touchdowns by a tight end, 12. Most seasons with 10-plus touchdowns by a tight end, 12. Most seasons with 10-plus touchdowns by a tight end, 5. Most offensive touchdowns in the first two seasons, 28, tied with Randy Moss. Only tight end to have three seasons with 10-plus touchdowns and 1,000-plus receiving yards, 2011, 2014, and 2015. Consecutive seasons with 10-plus touchdowns by a tight end, 3. Most seasons of 1,000-plus yards receiving by a tight end, three. Most seasons of 1,000 plus yards received by a tight end, four. Tied with Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. Youngest player

with three touchdown receptions in a game, 21 years, 184 days against the Steelers, his rookie year. Youngest player with three touchdown receptions in a game, playoffs, 22 years, 275 days. 2011 playoffs versus the Denver Broncos. Gronk was fantastic. And people are having the debate already, is he the greatest of all time? And maybe that's a debate for another time because we're all emotional right now.

And we probably can't think clearly. But let's just put it this way. If you're putting together the Mount Rushmore of tight ends, it's Kellen Winslow, Tony Gonzalez, it's Gronk, and then maybe you go Antonio Gates, maybe you go Ozzie Newsome, maybe you go somebody else there. But you start, maybe you go Jason Witten, but you start, I think, Winslow, Gonzalez, Gronk. Those are the non-negotiables. And more than anything else,

that should be enough to cement his legacy as a first ballot hall of famer and he's in the mix for greatest of all time you know maybe he is maybe he isn't maybe people still go Tony Gonzalez both for his mix of production and longevity but I think the football gods will look back on Gronk

very favorably and very kindly because of what he meant to the game how he sort of redefined the position, the ability to be both move tight end, matchup nightmare, and yes, be a devastating blocker. I mean, let's face it,

in that playoff game against the Chargers and to a certain extent, some of that playoff game against the Chiefs, he was a blocker more than anything else until they sort of unleashed him as a receiving threat, particularly at the end of the AFC Championship game. And so a fantastic career. Cannot say enough great things about him.

He was one of those players that you will tell family members, kids, grandkids about watching, about watching him play. And I could always sort of gauge when something happens in the sports world by when extended family members reach out. Like this news broke down and my in-laws, my father-in-law, texted me out of the blue. He's going to be missed. And that's the kind of player he was.

And that's how he's sort of viewed on a national level. Just a fun player to watch. A tremendous talent. He will be missed. The Patriots move on. This is a nice time to do it. This is a fantastic tight end class. But he will be missed. So that will do it for this

melancholy La Fiesta Esta Terminado. The party is over. I think I did that right. Version of the Locked on Patriots podcast. I'll be back a little bit later tonight or into Monday morning with our typical Monday fair mock draft Monday. But look, I think of all people, the retirement of Rob Gronkowski,

only next to Tom Brady would deserve a Locked on Patriots emergency podcast. So I had to hop on the microphone and drop some thoughts. Until next time, until a couple of hours from now, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patrons.