Four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski quickly shut down a report that he was considering coming out of retirement a second time.
“Crazy bro," Gronkowski told Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz on Wednesday. "They must know something about me that I don’t. I wish I still had those powers, because that would be cool if I did. But I was just in Australia for a few days. Now it’s time to relax a little. No football.”
The rumors kicked up on Tuesday after a recent episode of the "Dudes On Dudes" podcast, which Gronkowski hosts with Julian Edelman. Gronkowski was talking about how busy he is in retirement and joked that returning to the NFL would be easier.
"I was talking with my brother yesterday," Gronkowski said on the podcast, "and I told him, hey, I might as well go back to football because I'm grinding harder than I ever grinded before, and I'm not even playing football. So I might as well go back because playing ball would be easier than what I'm doing over the last six months."
A report from Denversports.com claimed on Tuesday that Gronkowski was training for an NFL return, but NFL Network's Ian Rapoport called the rumor "nonsense" shortly after.
Gronkowski has been busy, appearing on Fox's "NFL Sunday" show during the season, among other appearances in movies, television and commercials.
The five-time Pro Bowler retired after the 2018 season, but came out of retirement to play with quarterback Tom Brady for two seasons, winning a Super Bowl in 2020. He retired again in 2022 after 11 seasons and 92 career touchdowns.
