When Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement back in March, he seemed pretty content with never playing football again. However, the former Patriots tight end did leave the door slightly open for a possible return that would only have a chance of happening under very specific conditions: The Patriots would have to be desperate, and Tom Brady would have to call him. 

Those conditions came from Gronk's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, during an interview he did shortly after Gronk's retirement announcement. 

"If the [Patriots were] struggling or they needed him at some point next year, and let's just say hypothetically Tom Brady gave him a call and said 'Rob, I need you.' I wouldn't be shocked if he came back to play a few games," Rosenhaus said.

It's now been just over eight months since Rosenhaus made those comments and the interesting thing is that the 10-1 Patriots are indeed struggling right now. Well, kind of. Although the defense is doing just fine, the Patriots offense has definitely had its fair share of troubles this year, and Brady hasn't tried to hide the fact that he's frustrated with everything that's happening. 

Basically, this is the exact situation that Rosenhaus described when he was asked about the possibility of Gronk's return. 

So what will happen if Brady gives Gronk a call this week and asks him to come out of retirement?

The tight end answered that exact question during the Fox NFL pregame show on Sunday. 

"I would tell him I love the guy, which I do," Gronk said of a potential call with Brady. "He set an example for me throughout my whole career, and there's many life lessons that, not just Tom, but the whole organization has taught me to bring to the next level."

Basically, Gronk answered the question without actually answering the question. At that point, Fox host Curt Menefee asked Gronk to give a straight "yes or no" answer about whether not he would return if Brady asked him to.  

"No, no, I'm just saying," Gronk said. "No, I'm not [coming back], but I'm saying I appreciate everything he's done, and how he has helped me out to where I am now, but no, I'm not going back."

There you have it, not even Brady himself can talk Gronk out of retirement at this point. 

By the way, there's a good chance that this will be one of the final stories that you'll read this year about Gronk potentially coming out of retirement, and that's because there's an actual deadline for making this decision. If Gronk wants to come out of retirement this year, he has to make the decision by Nov. 30. If Gronk doesn't return by that date, then he would be ineligible to return this year. 

The Fox show was the second time in the past two months that Gronk has slammed the door closed on a possible return. During an interview back in mid-October, Gronk made it pretty clear that he wasn't interested in making a comeback. 

"When I retired, I retired for a reason," Gronk said. "It would be a no. There it is."

The reason we're still even talking about a potential Gronk comeback is because he seems to change his mind on the subject nearly every month. As recently as mid-October, he definitely sounded open to a return. 

"I'd have to be feeling it big time to come back, it's always going to be open in my mind," Gronkowski said on Oct. 10. "I love the game of football, I love playing the game, I love being around the game. I even love watching the game ... I'll always keep the door open."

However, with the deadline for his return just days away, it seems he's content to stay retired, which means the Patriots are going to have to look somewhere else for offensive help.