TAMPA, Fla. _ Rob Gronkowski was resting comfortably in retirement, moonlighting as a professional wrestler, disguising himself in a white tiger costume, and doing all the things one would expect him to do after professional football.
Then, Tom Brady found a new home in Tampa, and Gronk started getting the itch.
Gronkowski said he met with Brady about two months ago, and told him like everyone else, that he was interested in where free agency would take him.
"We rarely talked about what his decision was going to be, where I'm at," Gronkowski said. "But we did talk for one second, I told him, we talked real quick, and I said, 'Hey, I'm kind of getting that fire underneath me again.' ... He was all fired up and juiced up about it."
Everything happened pretty quickly, and before you know it, Brady and his favorite receiving target were reunited as the Bucs traded for Gronkowski on Tuesday, continuing Tampa Bay's most exciting, yet bizarre, football offseason.
Right when everyone had finally gotten used to the notion of Brady playing in pewter and red, Gronkowski _ who, like Brady, spent his career as a New England Patriot _ also is opting for a new look. Together they are focusing on taking the Bucs to a Super Bowl.
And Brady played a huge role in Gronkowski wanting to emerge from retirement.
"He was kind of the appetizer to the whole meal," he said.
"To build chemistry with a quarterback is something special. We have great chemistry. Every time we get together, it's just like the old days."
Gronkowski is no stranger to Tampa. He owned a 4,700-square foot waterfront home in Westshore that he sold in 2013, and he is an investor in Italian restaurant Rocca in Tampa Heights.
"I've always liked Florida,," Gronkowski said. "I'm a flip-flop, T-shirts and shorts, rolling-out-of-bed kind of guy," he said.
