Is he really going? Rob Gronkowski’s career lasted only nine years, but he seems to have been with us forever. He cut across the NFL like a hard-partying red-white-and-blue comet; a Pat Patriot come to life, leaving a trail of flattened defenders in his wake.

That reckless, record-breaking style was doomed to a short life, and now he’ll be off to chug beers and make a ton of money by just being Gronk. Unless the Patriots tempt him back … don’t rule it out.

In his honor, we’ve updated the tight end rankings on the football page, also including Brent Jones and Keith Jackson to pad out the list a bit.