Rob Gronkowski, the veteran tight end who absolutely transformed the position forever with his astounding plays, got his first scolding from the New England Patriots just 5 seconds after getting drafted. Gronkowski, who was roped in by the Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft as their 42nd overall pick, emerged as one of the most interesting characters in football and the ‘draft incident’ proves exactly why that happened.
Advertisement
In a recent appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, Gronkowski revealed that he received a scolding from Bill Belichick’s assistant on draft day because of his extraordinary celebrations on the stage. The assistant called Gronkowski following his draft, urging him to get down from the platform.
Rob Gronkowski Was Told To Stop Celebrating Excessively by Bill Belichick’s Team
Reminiscing about his draft day back in 2010, Gronkowski explained that his on-stage celebrations were cut down by the phone call from Bill Belichick’s assistant soon after his announcement. The 34-year-old followed his coach’s instructions to get off the stage.
Gronkowski instead took on the safer avenue and continued to enjoy his dream moment by celebrating off the stage. The unusual reaction from the coach initially shocked Gronkowski who had just experienced one of the best moments of his professional career.
“I got up on stage and chest-bumped Roger Goodell, I had my brothers there, my family. We’re jumping up and down, celebrating, and then I get a phone call. And I’m like ‘Hello?’ and it’s Bill’s assistant and he’s like ‘Get off the stage.
“So I’m already getting f*cking yelled at by the Patriots 5 seconds since I was drafted. Can you get off the stage, we don’t wanna see any more celebrating,” Gronkowski said on the New Heights podcast.
Gronkowski played as many as 16 regular season games in his rookie season after missing his entire junior year in 2009 due to a severe back injury. Despite the initial hiccup, the tight end eventually settled in extremely well at the franchise, forming a formidable partnership with quarterback Tom Brady.
Rob Gronkowski Received Another Public Scolding From Bill Belichick in 2018
Rob Gronkowski also received yet another scolding from the Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick later on in his career. In 2018, Belichick reportedly scolded the tight end in front of his teammates after it emerged that Gronkowski had used Tom Brady‘s fitness center and trained with the quarterback’s trainer Alex Guerrero.
Gronkowski had made great progress in terms of his personal fitness after switching over to Brady’s methods in 2017 and wanted to continue doing the same. He wanted to move away from the Patriots’ training staff but this did not go down well with Belichick in particular, who wanted Gronkowski to use the franchise’s in-house facilities.
Gronkowski became increasingly injury prone towards the latter part of his career, and it was one of the primary reasons for his initial retirement from the NFL at the age of 29. However, he made a return to the NFL in 2020, only to partner up with his friend Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and went on to win another Super Bowl, adding his count to four.
