“You Don’t Want to Try to Eat Like a Tom Brady Meal”: Rob Gronkowski Recalls Patriots’ Postgame Dinners with Chicken Tenders

Whether it’s beers, wings, cheat meals, or comfort food, Rob Gronkowski’s always been a big-time foodie. At 6-foot-6 and 266 pounds, it takes a lot to keep the former tight end going. And he’s never been shy about loading up his plate.

Thankfully, his former quarterback, Tom Brady, never demanded that Gronk adopt his renowned TB12 method. Because if he had, he’d have to get through the day without foods that everyone eats regularly: bacon, sausages, deli meats, tomatoes, eggplant, and many, many more.

And given the amount of physical and emotional turmoil one endures during a 60-minute football game, comfort foods are much better than a healthy meal or a green salad, anyway, according to Gronk that is.

“You don’t want to try to eat like a Tom Brady meal after a football game. It’s hard to put down. All the emotions, the hits, you wanna put down a cheeseburger with ketchup and mayonnaise,” Gronk said on an episode of the Dudes on Dudes podcast. So, what’s the Gronk way?

“But, my favorite thing to do was take those chicken tenders and just dunk ’em in as much BBQ sauce as you possibly could… That was my favorite go-to meal after a game, it was those chicken tenders,” revealed the former tight end. And that’s not all.

After receiving a fan question about his favorite post-game meal, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer reflected on some of the best spreads he enjoyed during his time with the Patriots. Particularly the ones the team provided for its players.

“After the game, you can bring your family and friends in, inside the tunnel, to meet ’em after the game, just to see your family and friends. And they would have this huge spread, the New England Patriots would provide,” Gronk remembered.

“There’d be burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders with BBQ sauce, ranch, honey mustard, whatever sauce you wanted with those chicken tenders. Tons of drinks lined up.”

While the menu certainly sounds like an offensive lineman’s dream, it’s unlikely that Brady was taking advantage of it. With avocado ice cream and in-season vegetables being staples of the TB12 diet, it’s more rare for Brady to eat a cheeseburger than it is for him to throw an interception.

Brady did enjoy the occasional single chicken wing. However, after each football game, he was known to have roasted wild salmon with lentils and veggies. And post dinner, he would treat himself with dark chocolate as part of his famous 80-20 diet of having more vegan/vegetarian food and a little bit of non-vegetarian food for protein to help in muscle recovery.

His former teammate and Super Bowl LIII MVP, Julian Edelman, was willing to verify his love for the Patriots’ chicken tenders. In noting that Gronk would routinely bring no less than “four boxes” worth of chicken tenders back to his home after every game, the 11-year veteran claimed that the tight end was never shy when it came to taking food.

“You would go to his house after the game and there would be a spread of what we had a spread of at the post game.”

Seeing as their podcast is now officially sponsored by Coors Light, here’s to hoping that the two of them continue to fill up on protein and breads before diving into the most recent batch of goods that the brewer shipped to them. Given their reputation for chowing and partying, that likely won’t be a problem.