New England Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski became the 38th member of the Patriots’ Hall of Fame on Nov. 7, receiving his red jacket at Gillette Stadium. But even as the tight end celebrated the honor bestowed upon him by the franchise, he did not hold back on his criticism where he felt it was deserved.

Speaking to Kay Adams on the Nov. 11 episode of the ‘Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams’, Gronkowski named two teams that he felt could have utilized the trade deadline to make better investments. The first team he spoke about was, in fact, the Patriots, who he pointed out were struggling with an injury-riddled offense.

“I got to put the Patriots in there, but if the Patriots were healthy, I would say they would be totally fine,” Gronkowski said. “But since they don’t have the health, I felt like maybe they could have possibly traded for an offensive lineman, a running back, or a wide receiver just to bolster the offense and give Drake Maye help. I mean, the guy needs help right now. I mean, he’s getting pressure on him. He doesn’t have a true number one out there. Just help across the board somehow some way.”

Quarterback Drake Maye has struggled against teams ranked among the top ten in defense. Although it seemed like the Patriots QB had finally put that specific issue behind this season, their latest matchup against the Green Bay Packers showed him falling back into the same old patterns.

Along with his own struggles against elite defenses, Maye has also had to navigate a constantly changing roster due to key offensive players like wide receiver A.J. Brown and tight end Hunter Henry being sidelined in different weeks by injuries. This put even more pressure on the quarterback to carry the offense alone, affecting his decision-making and margin of error.

Gronkowski reasoned that the Patriots front office should have increased their efforts to trade for more offensive players before the deadline passed. He added that the franchise’s decision not to do so suggested that they expect several of their injured offensive linemen to be back sooner rather than later.

The next team he included in the list of franchises that did not do enough before the deadline was the Cincinnati Bengals.

“And on top of that, I would say the Cincinnati Bengals, if the Bengals truly wanted a chance to get back to the Super Bowl, I felt like they should have traded for a running back,” Gronkowski added. “I mean, yes, they can arrow it out, and they can go all day throwing passes down the field and score touchdowns, but they need help in the run game. Eventually, you got to rely on the run to win some games. And if they just traded for a running back, I think that would have helped them out tremendously.”

Although the Bengals have Chase Brown, who rushed for 1,019 yards last season, Gronkowski believes the team needs more options at the position to take some pressure off Brown as well as to cope with his fluctuating performance this season.

The Cincinnati team has also ranked among the league’s lower tier in rushing production over recent seasons, often becoming more dependent on the pass game.

The former Patriots legend pointed out that while they could realistically get by without depending too much on their run game, he felt that adding competent talent in the backfield would provide a more reliable ground game to support Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and improve the team’s chances of retaining playoff contention.

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