Rob Gronkowski talks legacy, wild pre-draft meeting with Patriots

“He left me a voicemail yesterday, and I listened to it at about 10:30 p.m. final evening, and I began tearing up a bit of bit,” Gronkowski mentioned of Kraft’s message. “I imply, it’s simply such a prestigious honor to be inducted into the Patriots Corridor of Fame, particularly as a primary poll. And to do it after so many others have led the best way.

“Tom two years in the past, Julia final 12 months. You bought the Teddy Bruschis, the Willie McGinests. Simply so many guys which might be simply so nice, and to be in the identical class as them is simply an absolute honor. There’s little question about that. However once I listened to the voicemail final evening, it was a really particular one. I’m going to maintain the voicemail perpetually. It’s one of many solely few voicemails I’ll maintain for the remainder of my life.”

Gronkowski was a dominant power on the gridiron for New England and a charismatic determine away from the sport — standing in stark distinction to the Belichick-era Patriots’ buttoned-up strategy.

Gronkowski’s party-hard strategy might need value him an opportunity at touchdown with the Patriots, as he recalled his probably disastrous assembly in New England forward of the 2010 NFL Draft. After arriving on the crew facility, Gronkowski fell asleep and wanted to be woken up earlier than happening to fulfill with the Patriots’ teaching workers.​

“After I did go to sleep, and I had an outrageous interview. Outlandish. There’s little question about that,” Gronkowski mentioned. “However there’s one factor about it, as a result of I used to be being myself. And on the identical time, I known as my agent, Drew [Rosenhaus], proper after the interview… Earlier than the draft, I mentioned, ‘This crew both loves me, or they only crossed me off their board and there’s completely no likelihood that they’re drafting me.’ And in the long run, they cherished me.

“Thanks to Billy [O’Brien]. He was the one who did the interview, and likewise Brian Ferentz, who was the tight ends coach on the time. He was there for the interview as properly. And it was legendary. It’ll be remembered perpetually.”

Whereas Gronkowski might need been minimize from a unique fabric as a number of different Patriots gamers throughout New England’s two-decade dynasty, he was fast to credit score the Patriots for taking an opportunity on him within the second spherical of the 2010 NFL Draft — and molding him into an eventual Corridor-of-Fame participant.

“I’m tremendous grateful. It’s the perfect state of affairs that I may have presumably endured, going to the New England Patriots,” Gronkowski mentioned. “I used to be even mad a few occasions, getting handed on from just a few different groups within the first spherical and early second spherical. However actually all of it works out.

“And it was the group I wanted to be in. Simply the regime and the schedule and the way all the pieces ran with Coach Belichick and the way the Patriots have been doing. I wanted that tight-knit scheduling. I wanted to be nitpicked on and coached arduous as properly, and that’s the precise cause why I felt like I used to be drafted into the Patriots group.”

As Gronkowski probably braces for a name to Canton within the coming years, he was requested about his legacy within the NFL ranks.

“As a participant, there’s little question about it. I wish to be seen as a soccer participant, not even only a tight finish, or a man that catches passes, catches touchdowns,” Gronkowski mentioned. “I wish to be seen as a soccer participant. The definition of a soccer participant. Anyone who goes out and places their physique on the road at any given time. Somebody who performs the sport at full pace and makes the performs in essential moments when your quantity known as.

“That’s how I wish to be remembered out on the sector, the man that makes huge impacts, you realize, on big-time performs, in big-time moments as properly. That’s how I see myself and the way I wish to be seen.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a task he has held since 2023.