There is plenty of team-related drama that goes down in the NFL during Week 17, as witnessed by the wild finish to the Bengals-Ravens game that cost Baltimore a playoff spot. But there is also individual drama as well, with players battling to achieve season-long contract incentives.
One such player was Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who came into Week 17 needing either 11 receptions or 116 receiving yards against the Jets in Week 17 in order to trigger a $2 million incentive bonus.
Unfortunately for Gronk's wallet, his name is nowhere to be found in the box score.
That's right -- not even a target for the tight end.
One could easily picture the Patriots leadership doing a Monty Burns "exccccccellent" finger thing at the idea of stashing away $2 million here, but it's not like Gronk was one reception away from achieving the bonus and suddenly benched. 11 catches is a monster game; Brandin Cooks led the Pats with 11 targets against the Jets and he still didn't hit the catch or yards number.
Tom Brady was a little bit off, probably because he was wearing a scuba suit during an incredibly cold situation, and the Patriots weren't winging the ball all over the place trying to run up the score. They wanted the No. 1 seed in the AFC and they wanted to get out of dodge.
Plus, Gronk hurt himself with his absurd dirty hit on Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White during Week 13 that got him suspended for Week 14 (he was back dominating against the Steelers in Week 15). If he goes off for 116 yards in Week 14, he's $2 million richer.
There's some good news too: he unlocked a $3.5 million incentive bonus by going over 1,000 yards for the year. And, if he ends up being named to the All-Pro team, Gronk would unlock the $2.5 million anyway. That might be tough with Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz lingering. Gronk led all tight ends in receiving yards with his 1,084 and was tied with eight receiving touchdowns with Kelce and Ertz behind Jimmy Graham (10).
On the bright side, Gronk finished with a very nice number of catches this year.
I asked Gronk if he knew how many catches he had this season:
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) December 31, 2017
Smirked, “Yeah, 69.”
The $2 million would have been a nice bonus to unlock, but Gronk will probably survive.
