Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady made history in their 38-3 win over the Chicago Bears when he threw his 600th touchdown pass, the first quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After the 44-year-old Brady accomplished it, his long-time teammate and tight end Rob Gronkowski asked the quarterback to give him a new nickname. During his time in the NFL, Gronkowski is simply known as “Gronk,” per Jake Elman of Sportscasting.com. According to Elman, Gronkowski wants Brady to christen him “One-Sixth” moving forward, as he has caught 1/6th of Brady’s touchdown passes in his career.
As of now, Gronkowski has caught 102 out of Brady’s 689 touchdown passes. The Brady-Gronkowski tandem has connected for 88 touchdowns in the regular season and another 14 in the playoffs. In his career, Gronkowski has caught all but two of his 104 touchdown catches from Brady during their tenure with the New England Patriots and the Buccaneers. The other two came from former Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Brady’s backup Blaine Gabbert. This season, Gronkowski has been hounded by a rib injury that limited him to four games. During that span, he caught 16 passes for 184 yards and four touchdowns.
Buccaneers as Beckham’s next stop
With wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s release from the Cleveland Browns now official, there are several teams being floated as his next destination.
According to Chase Goodbread of NFL.com, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and Atlanta Falcons may bring Beckham. But Jeff Darlington of ESPN mentioned the Buccaneers since Beckham expressed interest in playing with Brady. “But there is one romantic destination that I can’t get out of my head, and that is the Tampa Bay Bucs,” Darlington said during an interview, per Nick Kosko of 24/7 Sports.
Darlington said Beckham wouldn’t be a problem for Brady as the wide receiver totally respects the veteran quarterback. However, Beckham’s decision won’t be in his hands as he has to go through waiver wire on Monday, where the Buccaneers are 24th on the list, per CBS Sports. If Beckham goes unclaimed, he will become a free agent and can sign with any NFL team.
This season, Beckham has 17 catches for 232 yards and no touchdowns.
Buccaneers can afford Beckham
According to Heavy.com, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believes that the Buccaneers may sign Beckham. Florio said the Buccaneers might place Beckham on their practice squad before promoting him to the 53-man roster to boost their chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions. The Buccaneers can afford Beckham in case they decide to sign him as they have a salary space of $3.2 million.
