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Tight end Rob Gronkowski called the 2020 Buccaneers the best team he ever played for.

Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski played in five Super Bowls as a member of the New England Patriots. Yet, he feels it was his final championship team that was the best.

Gronkowski recently revealed he feels the 2020 Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the best team he played for.

Gronkowski and former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady were among former Patriots who joined the Buccaneers for the COVID-19-altered season.

That year the Bucs went 11-5 then won three straight road playoff games before becoming the first team to both host the Super Bowl and defeat Patrick Mahomes in the championship game. Tampa Bay knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV.

Rob Gronkowski Thinks the 2020 Buccaneers Were the Best Team he Played for

Gronkowski was a member of three championship teams in Foxborough, including the 17-2 Patriots that rallied from a 28-3 hole to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

He had his personal best season in 2011, when he had 17 touchdowns while the Pats went 13-3 and lost 21-17 to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI.

Still, according to Gronk, his team’s best year came in Florida after he returned following a brief one-year retirement in 2019.

“Skill-wise, I think that team was probably the best skill set team I’ve ever been on throughout my career,” Gronkowski told Hard Rock Bet. “We had everyone. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, [Leonard Fournette], myself, Cam Brate, and then Ronald Jones.

“Jones is a beast too. He could run hard when he was on. That’s why it’s kind of hard to argue who was No. 1 and No. 2.”

Perhaps the Bucs’ star power was greater than those players with whom he played in New England, since Patriots coach Bill Belichick had a penchant for getting the most out of his teams.

“He was harder on you when you didn’t do something right because he expected it out of you, even though he wasn’t part of the offense,” Gronkowski said of Belichick. “He wasn’t telling you what to do, but when you’re not playing up to par, he’d get on you.”

Rob Gronkowski Reveals Why he Retired From the Patriots in 2019

The Pats had been to the Super Bowl three straight seasons, 2016-18, when Gronkowski announced his retirement shortly after New England’s 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.

Pats fans may wonder what might have been, since Brady did not have Gronkowski through the 2019 season. Despite leading the Pats to a 12-4 season, Brady lost his final game in a Patriots uniform, 20-13 against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 4, 2020.

Gronkowski revealed what was behind that year off.

“That’s why I retired with New England and then came back. I still had like two years left of me. Maybe two or three, or even one,” he said. “But I was never like, myself. There were some games where I definitely struggled. I was slow as can be, kind of like my last year in New England.

“I had to pick and choose some plays – when to turn it on, when not – because I couldn’t be full speed with the explosiveness.”