Rob Gronkowski lets dig at Patriots slip out on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
By Adam Weinrib
If you thought Tom Brady and the New England Patriots had a bizarrely frosty relationship during his final seasons in Foxborough — and certainly during the aftermath — then wait ’til you hear how Rob Gronkowski describes the front office.
You know, the group that tried to deal him to Detroit and narrowly allowed him to escape to Tampa after a Brady-esque retirement pivot maneuver.
Against all odds, Gronk managed to be extremely fun in New England despite the front office’s stated desire to employ as many drones as possible. Now that he’s out of the system, though, he’s leveled up and kept things loose, revealing “secrets” at every turn.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday night, Gronkowski was asked about the Buccaneers helping to facilitate him collecting a bonus by making sure he was on the field to pass a certain catch threshold.
Unprompted, he took a shot at the Patriots, saying New England would’ve screwed with the game in the opposite way to manipulate significant cash out of his wallet.
Whoa! @RobGronkowski just called Bill Belicheat a cheap SOB. At least that’s what I heard. https://t.co/UELCKjQL1C
— Cousin Sal (@TheCousinSal) April 7, 2022
Ex-Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski insisted the Pats would’ve screwed him out of a bonus.
Shouldn’t have said that! Or … whatever, it’s fine. Gronk’s still getting into Canton. He’s still getting into the Patriots Hall. Fans would riot otherwise. He’s set for life.
But this is Gronk: Untethered. This is what you get when he’s extricated from The Machine. This is The Good Stuff.
According to the legendary tight end, he remains undecided on whether he’ll rejoin the Buccaneers on the field for 2022, even though his buddy Brady (someone he says he believes could play until the age of 50) is back in the fold (though not for lack of trying to get to Miami).
If Gronk does come back, it seems likely he’ll just continue to run it back in The Bay until his body can’t take anymore. After all, they have gone above and beyond to take care of him — as opposed to the Patriots, where his love for football often waned. During the 2017 season, for instance, things got so bleak that he delivered a dirty hit on the Bills’ Tre’Davious White to, in essence, get a break from the grind, according to the man himself in “Man in the Arena.”
We heard, upon Gronkowski’s initial retirement, that he needed to step away because his body had suffered too much damage. Turns out, his mindset had, too, which was immediately reversed with a trip to a new locale. Funny how that works.
