Thursday's first round of the NFL Draft was just two days after the Patriots traded a seventh-round pick and Rob Gronkowski to the Buccaneers in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
So, when director of player personnel Nick Caserio spoke to the media afterwards, he was asked about the trade, specifically determining what the return should be.
"Yeah, I think trades always kind of take on a life of their own," he said. "You just try to figure out, either you're comfortable with the compensation that's being offered and provided or you're not. You make a decision and move forward. I think that's how we've always approached trades, whether it's veteran players or during the draft. There's no set formula for anything like that. You take the information you have, you process it, you talk about it, you make a decision and you move forward, which is essentially what we tried to do in that particular case."
Many wondered about that and why it was just a fourth-round pick, but since Gronkowski was retired not going to play for the Patriots again, the team really didn't have much leverage. The Patriots essentially got a fourth-round pick for nothing.
New England still really hasn't replaced Gronkowski, but they could potentially draft one of the best tight ends in this year's draft since none were selected on Day 1 and the team has five selections overall Friday.
Gronkowski came out of retirement because he wanted to reunite with Tom Brady.
