Report: Former Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski close to deal with WWE

Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is close to finalizing a deal with WWE, according to a report by FS1's "WWE Backstage" program.

Gronkowski is "deep in talks" with the pro wrestling promotion, according to the report, though how he'll be used is unknown. The report noted that Gronkowski could pop up on WWE SmackDown as early as March 20.

WWE declined to comment when reached by ESPN on Wednesday.

Gronkowski, 30, has worked with WWE before. He took part in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 in 2017, jumping the barricade to help wrestler Mojo Rawley (a friend of Gronkowski's) win the match.

In August, Gronkowski said at a sponsor's news conference that he'd be interested in doing one big WWE match in "maybe five years" but could not see himself as a full-time wrestler.

"With wrestling, I don't feel like I would be a full-time wrestler, but there is one thing I'm down for," Gronkowski said. "And that's to do one crazy match. Practice it for a little bit, go out there -- like in a Royal Rumble -- go out there, I got my friend in WWE [Rawley], practice it and do a full-on WWE match. I'm not saying when, maybe five years. I got the rest of my life to do that. I've always dreamed about doing that, just one time, going in there and going full-out. That may be a possibility, one time, down the road."

Rawley told ESPN in October that the idea of Gronkowski being in WWE this year was not far-fetched.

"Hey, man, we've got SummerSlam in Boston [this coming August]," Rawley said. "Maybe we'll do a tag match. I've been doing my own thing, but for him, maybe I'll do a tag match."

WWE executives Paul " Triple H" Levesque and Stephanie McMahon, as well as Rawley, were at Gronkowski's Super Bowl beach party in February, at which time Levesque referenced SummerSlam in Boston in a Twitter post.

Gronkowski, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, retired from the NFL in March 2019 after nine seasons, saying the pain and injuries he suffered throughout his career had worn on him mentally.

He was selected to five Pro Bowls, was a four-time All-Pro first-team selection and was named to the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.