Rob Gronkowski acknowledges that he was on the verge of joining a Patriots division rival

Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has a new favorite team to cheer for, and it’s not the Patriots

The tight end revealed that he is switching back to being a Buffalo Bills fan, during an appearance on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce

Gronkowski was born in Amherst, New York The tight end grew up cheering for the Bills

He also performed well against the Bills on the field, recording 74 catches for 1,132 yards and 12 touchdowns in 16 head-to-head meetings

His most memorable performance against the Bills came as a member of the Patriots He had nine catches on 11 targets for 147 yards, averaging 163 yards per reception

Now, he wants to root for his former AFC East rival

He even admitted that he was in talks with Buffalo at one point to play during the 2022 season

I’m kind of a Buffalo Bills fan now, again,” said Gronkowski “Now that I’m not playing no more I’m like, ‘Dang’ And I thought about it—how cool that would be to play for the Buffalo Bills

I actually thought about it when Tom Brady retired this year I was like, ‘Alright’ I didn’t really feel like playing football after this year, and I was like, ‘Ahh, Tom retired’ I was like, ‘I’m gonna check out some other teams’

In 2021, Gronkowski last competed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers His 55 receptions for 802 yards and six touchdowns totaled 55 In total, he played in the league for 11 years, nine of which were spent with New England Although purely speculative, a Josh Allen-Rob Gronkowski combination would have been exciting to watch in action and terrifying for Patriots supporters