Right. The leverage right now is with Gronk. Because he can threaten to unretire at any point which would cause the Patriots to have to cut him. The way for the Patriots to neutralize that leverage would be to immediately create $8.25 million in additional cap space, because at that point they can simply tell Gronk -- go ahead and unretire and you'll be a Patriot and if we want our cap space back later we'll cut you in a few months if we don't get the trade we want. It costs the Patriots nothing because whatever space they create today will carry over to next year anyway if they cut him.I don’t believe the Patriots are going to keep him, but why couldn’t they theoretically trade someone else to create cap room and keep Gronk? I don’t understand why people think they have zero leverage, or maybe I don’t understand the cap.
Most probably what is really going on here is that the Patriots have a way to immediately clear up $8.25 million in cap space and they have told that to Gronk's agent (or his dad? or whatever), which is as good as actually doing it. At that point, Gronk becomes their ally and he basically tells them go ahead and get your best deal and I'll wait to submit the paperwork. That's probably what's happening here, but the Patriots do need to have plan B ready to go to get that $8.25 million very quickly if they need it to keep the leverage situation in equipoise.