Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce have a lot in common. Let’s start with the obvious: they’re both NFL tight ends. In their primes, they both functioned as the No.1 option in the passing game for one of the best quarterbacks in league history. They have both earned first-team All-Pro honors four times. Heck, they’re also essentially the same age. “Gronk” turned 36 years old on May 14; Kelce reaches that mark on October 5.
Advertisement
Beyond the final note, those facts center on their football lives. But Gronkowski and Kelce are more than NFL stars. They’re electrifying personalities who put their charisma and charm on display in many forms, including podcasts, TV shows, and movies. Back in 2022, they took their talents to the NFL Draft stage for their version of Footloose.
Yes; at the 2022 NFL Draft, Gronkowski and Kelce had an old-fashioned dance-off. Gronkowski reminisced on their encounter during the Dudes on Dudes podcast. Unsurprisingly, alcohol had a big role to play. And it sounds like Gronkowski thinks he lost that particular “battle” with Kelce.
“[The NFL] Draft was in Vegas. He came up to ‘Gronk Beach.’ I was hammered, man… and all of a sudden, ‘Killa Trav’ shows up and we’re having a dance-off on the stage… I can dance, like they’re my dance own moves. But he can forreal dance,” Gronkowski said.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, the Gronk talked about the fluidity and agility (that allowed Kelce to succeed against him on the dance floor) is what made him so lethal in the NFL. He’s equipped with the skills to get open and make defenders miss no matter what coverage they deploy.
“He’s so… savvy at the top of the route… like a basketball player dribbling… that’s what truly gets him open. That’s what makes him a great player. [And] his knowledge in the zone game, the ability to find the open hole, to find where the grass is so he can sit there and Patrick Mahomes can just dump it right to him,” Gronkowski added.
Naturally, Kelce also had kind words about Gronkowski’s unique skillset. When he entered the league back in 2013, he aspired to become Kansas City’s version of Gronkowski. Kelce’s desire – which he detailed on the New Heights podcast – involved more than just receiving work.
“[Rob Gronkowski] was the staple for an All-Pro tight end. How you do it in-line blocking, how you do it in [the] passing game. And then on top of that, how you win football games… I absolutely love the way that dude just cut it loose, man. He went out there and played the game with a good feel… high energy and a motor… I was very aware of what Gronk was doing over there in New England,” Kelce said.
Jason Kelce claimed Gronkowski could “do everything.” That, of course, sounds similar to how Gronkowski described Travis.
It makes sense that the two incredible tight ends would go about their business in parallel fashions. Gronk’s game had a larger power element; Travis’ has a bigger finesse factor. And fans will debate who was greater for ever.
But the reality is that as players, they were like two peas in a pod. And in time, they’ll both be wearing identical Hall of Fame gold jackets.
