It's been more than three weeks since New England's season ended in Super Bowl LII and we still have no idea if Rob Gronkowski is going to play in 2018.
After the Patriots' 41-33 loss to the Eagles, Gronk shocked everyone when he admitted that he had actually been contemplating retirement in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
"I don't know how you heard that, but I mean I'm definitely going to look at my future, for sure," Gronkowski said. "I'm going to sit down in the next couple of weeks and see where I'm at."
Since then, we haven't really heard from Gronk, well, unless you count the cryptic tweet that he sent out over the weekend. With retirement still on the table, Gronk sent out a mysterious tweet on Saturday that had Patriots fans trying to figure out what it means.
Forseee your own future, control your own temptations, and your destiny will be not just be reached, it will just be starting.
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) February 24, 2018
If I'm reading that right, that clearly means he's leaning toward retirement. Um, or does it actually mean he plans on returning in 2018? You know what, I'm not sure, and I don't think Patriots fans are, either.
Pats fans tryna decipher the tweet like pic.twitter.com/6g9qJEyKAu
— Isaac Freedman (@freedman_isaac) February 24, 2018
Just in case Gronk hasn't actually made up his mind, dozens of Patriots fans responded to the tweet by asking Gronk not to retire.
— David Warner (@grumpywarner) February 24, 2018
Rob can you stop playing games and say your playing this year for the pats?? I seriously can’t take it
— Eric Connolly (@econnolly26) February 24, 2018
Please come back pic.twitter.com/A92hGrOkR6
— Jesse McDaid (@JesseMcDaid) February 24, 2018
OMG No!!!! Please don’t leave 🏈😢 pic.twitter.com/qIqZICIYTF
— Zsuzsa (@Zsuzsa0601) February 24, 2018
One piece of good news for Patriots fans is that Gronk is still taking shirtless photos with fans and whenever he's done that in the past, he always ends up playing the following season.
That’s what I was thinking... thanks for the pic, today. (Totally rude, I said it...) 😂😎 pic.twitter.com/Pk4G2m9Ona
— erikabatey (@erikabatey) February 24, 2018
Whatever Gronk does, the Patriots are going to want to know soon because if he does retire, they're likely going to be looking for his replacement in either free agency or the NFL Draft. The guess here is that Gronk plays at least one more season, but with Sylvester Stallone and the Rock trying to convince him to be an actor and several wrestlers trying to convince him to join WWE, the one thing we know is that if Gronk does retire, he'll have plenty of high-paying job options going forward.