Yeah, exactly.
Only catch here is his contract. Is Bill paying Gronk 10m to play half the regular season snaps? I think that’s a resounding ‘no.’ And will Gronk take a pay cut in return for a pitch count? I don’t know.
I think both sides might reasonably conclude that this can’t work.
I think even at 2018 levels Gronk is a reasonable deal at $10 MM or even the almost $12 MM he's slated to earn, and then you just think about using that asset responsibly. They didn't get vintage Gronk for the regular season but he was absolutely vital in the playoffs. Less workload might help him navigate the long season better, and hopefully you get a similar playoff performance.
I wouldn't want to sit Gronk half, but he was at 79% this year, leading all Patriots skill players, despite missing three games. 74% in the regular season. I think you dial that back to 65-70%. It's not unheard of. Eric Ebron this year played like 55% of snaps. Put in a package for the young guy(s), give Gronk a couple series off a game, keep him in for key situations (two-minute drill, etc.), give him more of a breather in blowouts, and hopefully you get 14-16 games and a healthy playoff Gronk. And if you have young TEs, you also have the added benefit of getting them more exposure.
It's worth noting: they couldn't really do this this year because they renegotiated Gronk's salary to have a lot of incentives and benching him would have been cheating him of the opportunity to reach those incentives.
Also worth noting: there is a ton of cap space available around the league this offseason. Contracts are probably going to get really stupid. $12 MM for Gronk at this stage sounds like a lot; it might not sound like that much six weeks from now.