When I saw the list of receivers who caught 50 touchdowns in the fewest number of games: Lance Alworth, Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, Rob Gronkowski, it dawned on me. Gronk is going to the Hall of Fame! Already, in his short career, he’s done enough, even with his injuries in the last two years.
I’ve seen them all in the last 50 years. My earliest memory was the 1958 Championship game. Colts beat the Giants in overtime. Don’t remember who were the tightends. But I do remember John Mackey,  Mike Ditka, Kellen Winslow, Shannon Sharpe, Mark Bavaro,  Dave Casper, Jackie Smith (even though he dropped an easy TD pass from Roger Staubach in the Super Bowl), today’s Antonio Gates, Jason Witten, Tony Gonzalez, and really good ones like Ben Coates, Russ Francis. Gronk is better than all of them. Trust me.
I guess the best of the HOFs tightends would be the great John Mackey. Big strong athletic, defenders bouncing off him. But Gronk is better. The best tightend to ever play. Enjoy him while you can.
BTW, my twenty something nephews and friends were discussing the best receivers of ALL time, and naturally they left out the greats from before their time. They brought up Rice and Moss, and today’s monsters, but never heard of Lance Alworth! I didn’t expect them to go back to, or even think of Tommy MacDonald, Homer Jones, Raymond Berry, Don Maynard, Cliff Branch, Fred Biletnikof, or way back to Don Hutson. I’m  talking Lance Alworth, aka Bambi, who ran and leaped like a Gazelle, graceful as a deer, was an acrobat in the air, uncoverable. Let’s face it. 20 somethings should defer to us 60 somethings when debating the best of ALL time in sports.