After a very brief retirement from his coaching career, longtime NFL head coach Sean Payton is back in the league as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos. And just a few days after formally accepting the job, it looks like he’s already (jokingly) recruiting some of his former Fox coworkers to come out of retirement with him.
On Saturday, Sean Payton sent a tweet that included a photograph of a Denver Broncos shirt on a hanger. But Payton made a slight change to the shirt, crossing out the “B” in Broncos and replacing it with a hand-drawn “G” so that the shirt read “Groncos” instead of “Broncos.”
The move was apparently in reference to Rob Gronkowski, as Payton also tagged the retired tight end in the tweet (as well as recently retired quarterback Tom Brady, for some reason).
@Broncos @RobGronkowski @TomBrady @NFLonFOX
Let the recruitment begin! pic.twitter.com/2upP9h8qsx— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) February 11, 2023
“Let the recruitment begin!” Payton said in the tweet.
Rob Gronkowski is widely considered one of the top tight ends in NFL history, but he’s been retired since playing his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021.
In retirement, Gronk has been working for Fox as an analyst – along with Payton this season, before he returned to the NFL. That likely explains the joke.
