Any expectations of a revitalized Rob Gronkowski tossing on a red cape and jumping on the earliest plane ride to Foxborough to save a desperate tight end situation for the New England Patriots is a pipe dream. Superman doesn’t exist, and even if he did, he wouldn’t need to fly a plane to save a situation clearly beyond saving.

That glowing green rock of kryptonite for the Patriots is beaming brightly at the once lauded tight end position, which is now a ragtag group of retirees, journeymen and former undrafted free agents.

Sure, Gronkowski returning ahead of training camp would instantly make the team better than they are right now with the limited options on the depth chart. Longtime New Orleans Saint and former Patriot Benjamin Watson is projected to be the starter, but he is also 38 years old and slated to serve a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The rest are all hail mary options with little to no expectations outside of a traditional tight end role.

No one else is making the ridiculous one-handed circus grabs that turned a massively underrated former second-round draft pick into a future Hall of Famer. No one else can inspire and galvanize a team, along with having the trust of quarterback Tom Brady, as arguably the greatest tight end of all time. No one else is fortifying one of the most powerful offensive lines in football, while also hauling in 60-plus passes for 1,000 yards than the guy that turned an ordinary football spike into a primetime Sunday spectacle.

No player will ever be able to fill those shoes, not even Gronkowski himself.

The tight end I saw hobbling up and down the football field last season isn’t the same player I remember. Granted, he was great when he needed to be, particularly in the AFC Championship and Super Bowl LIII, when he made several clutch catches in game-winning drives. But that once dominant and unstoppable force on the field is nothing more than a campfire story now—an imprinted legacy only visible in a film room and old YouTube clips.

Even if Gronkowski wanted to return, there is no certainty the Patriots would even get the same version of the player they had last season. While the talk of his potential weight loss is a subject he has fought back on, he has looked noticeably slimmer in recent public appearances, which is indicative of a man that has moved on from the tedious grind of being a professional athlete.

There is also that efficacious smile reminiscent of a man that left everything on the football field. Gronkowski—a three-time Super Bowl champion, four-time First-Team All-Pro, former NFL receiving touchdown leader and five-time Pro Bowler—has created an all-time great legacy that will stand the test of time. There is nothing left for him to prove.

If the Patriots sink to the point where Brady actually has to pick up the phone and call him out of retirement to save the team, then the Patriots are in deep trouble, and I’m talking about the not repeating as Super Bowl champions sort of trouble.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn’t an easy man to figure out, but the pieces he’s put in place on offense is a clear tip of the hat that change is coming. The team has acquired a couple of big-bodied receivers, including drafting N’Keal Harry in the first round and signing former five-time Pro Bowler Demaryius Thomas to a one-year deal, in an attempt to make up for the lack of red zone presence they lost after Gronkowski retired.

They’ve also added former Alabama lead running back Damien Harris out of Alabama to a devastating offensive backfield that already had Sony Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead to help maintain a balanced attack.

The Patriots are ditching the offensive finesse and returning to their roots as a power football team. If a situation arises where Brady has to win with his arm—like it did in the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs last season—Belichick has put the requisite weapons in place to help him get the job done. Gronkowski’s presence on the field will definitely be missed, but the Patriots have proven over the years to be a living, breathing chameleon, capable of adjusting to whatever situation arises.

As for Gronkowski, a spectacular, diving 29-yard catch that set the Patriots up for the only touchdown to win Super Bowl LIII bookended his legendary career. It will serve as the lasting memory if he chooses to walk away, along with the Lombardi Trophy he dented after the game.

That historic catch and dented trophy closes the chapter on the greatest tight end story to ever be told—a story that makes you wonder if Superman really existed.