Rob Gronkowski isn’t playing football. He’s playing us.
It’s hard to be annoyed with Gronk about anything. But this “Yo, bros, I’ve got a big announcement!’’ stuff,’ fully intended to tease that he might return to an offensively challenged football team that really could any version of him that he could muster at this point, is now in the red zone, deep in annoying territory.
It’s savvy marketing packaged as good fun, but it’s not especially fun on this end. It’s designed to make us pay attention in the hope that the big announcement is something like, oh, “I’ll be back with the Patriots next week LET’S GO PATS NATION,’’ or “BOOM, I’m coming back to the Pats,’’ or “My bro Tom needs me, I’LL BE BACK WITH THE PATS WOOOOOO.