Over the three months since winning Super Bowl 53, the New England Patriots saw considerable departures through all levels of their organization: from players leaving via free agency or retirement, to coaches joining other clubs, to off-field personnel jumping ship. The offensive side of the football was hit particularly hard, with some key pieces of the team’s 2018 championship squad exiting one way or another.
The biggest of them is, of course, tight end Rob Gronkowski. Coming off a statistical down-year that still ended in a productive postseason run and ultimately his third title, the future Hall of Famer decided to call it a career after nine record-breaking seasons.