That's Rob Gronkowski channeling Lloyd Christmas ... and NOT shutting down the possibility of playing in the NFL next season, though it sounds like it'll cost a team a pretty penny.

33-year-old Gronk joined Babcock and Mojo on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1) ... where the G.O.A.T. tight end was asked about playing next season.

"Like Dumb and Dumber, baby. You're sayin' there's a chance. You never know. What if someone wanted to throw the whole salary cap at me, baby, or half of the salary cap, then you gotta think about it. Throw me some quarterback money. Then you're talking, so there's always a possibility."

Remember, Rob sat out the 2019 season but returned in 2020 with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Gronkowski played two more seasons before sitting out this year.

As for whether he ever got an itch this season watching football, Gronk says no, he didn't.

"Ya know I really didn't have the itch. I just had a couple thoughts throughout the 17 weeks of football. It was about week 10, week 11, week 12, right around there where I was thinking about it, but I really never got the itch. It was just a couple of thoughts."

Rob continued ... "I'm not gonna ever go back to football if I'm just thinking about it and don't really have that itch. That trigger was not gonna be pulled to go back and play football this year. It was not there, man."

There's more ... while Rob won't be playing in the Super Bowl, he'll be in Arizona, throwing one of the biggest and best parties of the week -- Gronk Beach!

In addition to Rob, 21 Savage, Diplo, Lil Jon and other celebs and performers will be at Talking Stick Resort on February 11, the day before the Super Bowl.

Of course, Gronk's no stranger to Arizona ... he was an Arizona Wildcat, so he's done his fair share of partying in the state.

"It's the big game weekend's number 1 event. I'm going back to Arizona," Rob said, explaining he needs to hit his AZ party quota.