It's no secret that the Tennessee Titans need to add a tight end (or two….or three) this offseason.

Tennessee's top three tight ends from last season — Anthony Firkser, MyCole Pruitt, and Geoff Swaim — will all be free agents when the new league year starts next week.

The Titans could choose to bring one or two of those three back. But for now, it's unclear what the franchise plans to do with their pending free agent tight ends.

(Tennessee's tight end options shrunk earlier this week when David Njoku, Mike Gesicki, and Dalton Schultz each received the franchise tag.)

CBS Sports predicts Titans sign Rob Gronkowski

CBS Sports has the Titans making a splash next week at the tight end position. They predicted recently that Tennessee will sign Rob Gronkowski, the former New England Patriots tight end who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the last two years.

From CBS Sports:

“Mike Vrabel likes the tough guys, and Gronk’s personality fits right in. He brings pop as both a blocker and pass catcher, giving Tennessee a quick fix at a position of need. The one-year deal allows Gronk to ride into the sunset in 2023, if he chooses.”

That would be a massive signing that would bring plenty of media attention to Nashville.

But is it realistic?

The finances could work. The Titans have already started clearing salary, releasing Rodger Saffold, Darryton Evans, and offensive lineman Kendall Lamm on Thursday. Gronk earned $8 million in 2021 and he'll likely sign a similar contract in 2022 (if he returns).

Would Gronk want to play for the Titans?

Well, that's a tough one to answer. For starters, Gronk is currently undecided about his playing future. He could retire…again. Or he could make a push to join a team with a young elite quarterback like the Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Burrow or the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen. Gronk has said recently that he's a big fan of Burrow, so that would make some sense.

The other option is that Gronk goes wherever Tom Brady ends up if/when he unretires (which would probably be the San Francisco 49ers, but we can't rule out the Buccaneers).

Gronk has a few connections to the Titans, however, that could lead him to Nashville. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and Gronkowski never played together with the Patriots, but that Patriot connection still exists.

Titans general manager Jon Robinson, though, was in New England for four years with Gronk (Robinson was the director of college scouting at the time).

In fact, Robinson was the Patriots employee who interviewed Gronk during the pre-draft process, which gave us this hilarious story (via NBC Sports):

"He was sitting across from me. We’re trying to talk about football. I’m trying to get to know him a little better, make my notes on him," Robinson told Howe, describing Gronkowski's pre-draft visit in Foxboro.

"I said, 'What do you like to do besides football?' A lot of guys say different things. Most of them play video games, or watch movies or read books. He’s like, 'I like to watch cartoons.' I’m like, OK. I said, 'What do you like to watch?' He goes, 'SpongeBob.'

"And then the Gronk laugh. I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m bringing this guy up to Bill every other day, and he’s telling me he likes to watch SpongeBob. I’m (thinking), I’ve got no chance, Rob, you’ve got to help me out here."

Let's also not forget that Gronk enjoys spending some time in Nashville during the offseason.

I think Rob Gronkowski just crashed my bachelor party in disguise. Not sure if he's going to retire, but said he could be playing for the "69ers" next season. I love my job. I love Gronk. #Patriots pic.twitter.com/ySWLHhjuJN

— John Breech (@johnbreech) March 17, 2018

I don't think we can rule anything out when it comes to Robinson and the Titans. JRob likes to make some splashy moves from time to time. And this one would be a low-risk signing.

But this ultimately comes down to Gronk and what HE wants to do. And I don't think we're going to know that answer until we know what Brady is doing (and that could be a while).

I don't see the Titans waiting around to see what Gronk does. They might check in on him, but I think they'll proceed with their offseason plan and we'll see them sign a tight end not named Rob Gronkowski next week.

Featured image via USA TODAY Sports