How Good Was Rob Gronkowski Actually?

he's the greatest quarterback of all time's most trusted weapon but also one of the wildest party animals in league history so just how good was Rob Gronkowski actually growing up in a small village in New York Rob was born into a family where two things were certain he was going to play sports and he was gonna be tough as Nails Rob was the second youngest of five brothers regardless of age they refused to take it easy on each other as Gronk had said there were brawls every day every day they were just full-on fist fights in addition to being extremely aggressive to say the Gronkowski family was athletic wouldn't be doing them Justice Rob's dad played college football at Syracuse his great grandfather was an Olympic cyclist who at one point held five World Records three of his brothers Dan Chris and Glenn played in the NFL and his oldest brother Gordy Jr played professional baseball as Sports came second nature to him Rob played just about everything growing up with plenty of fighting experience of course he played hockey until he was 14. then in high school he was The Sinner on the basketball team first baseman on the baseball team and tight end and defensive end on the football team but it was gronk's Junior season when his football career really began to take off he was dominant on both sides of the ball catching 36 passes for 648 yards and seven touchdowns while mixing in 73 tackles and six sacks on his way to being named second team Allstate right when it looked like Rob had it all figured out his family moved to Pittsburgh before his senior year the change threw him off his game as he finished his senior season with just eight catches for 152 yards although he struggled to find a groove on the football field Gronk that year became a showstopper on the basketball court a longtime Pittsburgh sports reporter said when I saw Gronkowski on the court that's when my jaw dropped it's a quarter into the game and I turned to my wife and said you see that kid he's going to be in the NFL gronk's out of this world athleticism for someone his size LED College recruiters to see past his disappointing football season and still rate him a four-star recruit and top five tight end in the nation Rob had colleges from all over the country begging him to choose them but Gronk being Gronk had priorities outside of just their football program on the college recruitment process gronk's dad said Rob had something like 65 scholarship offers and I asked where are you going Syracuse Ohio State and he said University of Arizona and I asked why there he said Dad if you ever went to a pool party in Arizona you'd understand thanks to a one of a kind but so on brand reason Gronk headed off to Tucson to play his college ball for the Wildcats as a freshman in Arizona the pressure was on Gronk to show that his high school senior season was a fluke and he was more than just an athletic party animal Gronk Rose to the occasion catching 28 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns he led the team in yards per reception at 18.8 and his receiving yards set a School record for most by a freshman in a single season but Gronk was just getting started he took this momentum and built off it in his sophomore season despite missing the first three games of the year Gronk still finished with 40 7 catches for 672 yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns this helped him earn the prestigious honor of being named an AP third team All-American then with his junior year set to be his time to shine on the national stage Gronk faced a devastating setback a herniated disc would force him into back surgery and keep him from playing a single down of football That season Not only was it a bummer but after his stock plummeted Gronk shocked the world he voluntarily left college and declared for the NFL draft there was a ton of uncertainty swirling around Gronk he had the build and athleticism of a tight end constructed in a lab and was Unstoppable his sophomore season which screamed first round pick but at the same time he only played 22 games in college and was coming off a very serious injury which screamed potential bust as a result of these conflicting narratives nobody knew when Gronk would hear his name called by the commissioner and then it happened in the second round the New England Patriots traded up to Rob Gronkowski with the 42nd pick he went into his rookie season determined to prove the Patriots right for taking a chance on a guy every other team was afraid to use a top pick on and with that fire lit within him he quickly earned his way into Tom Brady's good graces the peak of gronk's season came during a week 10 game against the Steelers when he caught three touchdown passes becoming the youngest rookie in NFL history to do so in a single game he finished the year with 42 receptions for 546 yards and 10 touchdowns while being named to the all rookie team filled with confidence from his impressive rookie campaign gronk's second season in 2011 was one that football fans will never forget from the first snap of the year it was crystal clear that he was a man on a mission in the first three games of the Season Gronk put opposing teams on notice as he caught five touchdowns in that stretch and this red hot start wasn't just luck throughout the entire season was Unstoppable treating Defenders like ragdolls and constantly getting open by the end of the year he had set an NFL record for most receiving yards in a season by a tight end with 1327 and became the first tight end to ever solely lead the league in touchdown receptions with 17. he was also fifth in receptions among any position with 90 in total to this day it is the single greatest season ever by a tight end and it may never be topped in addition to being a magical year for Gronk it was also nearly one for the Patriots New England made it all the way to the Super Bowl before barely losing to the Giants in the big game Gronk had shown the Patriots he was so valuable in only two seasons that they needed to make sure he didn't play for another team for the foreseeable future so during the 2012 offseason they signed him to a six-year 54 million dollar contract extension which at the time was the largest ever for a tight end then just like in college right when it seemed like monk was on a roll injuries brought the game to a screeching halt between the 2012 and 2013 seasons the only played a combined 18 games because of a variety of medical reasons such as a broken arm infection in his forearm a spinal issue that required another back surgery and a torn ACL and MCL his calling card was a wrecking ball style of play it didn't matter who was standing in front of him Gronk was going to run at them full speed with zero regard for anyone's safety unfortunately that also included himself some players go their entire career without suffering that many injuries so the fact that Gronk had all of that happen in a two-year stretch explains why people had concerns about him being able to return to form the thing is Gronk isn't like most other players and he further proved this with his 2014 comeback tour That season he caught 82 passes for 1124 yards and 12 touchdowns becoming the first tight end to catch at least 10 touchdown pounds in four different seasons and he managed to accomplish this after just five seasons even with all of the injuries on top of his individual success that year Gronk played a major role in the Patriots winning the Super Bowl the first ring of his career after unanimously being named first team All-Pro he officially capped off the perfect comeback Tour by winning the comeback Player of the Year award the 2015 season was more of the same for Gronk who again broke the 1000 receiving yard and 10 touchdown reception mark on his way to being named first team All-Pro yet again as if anyone needed more proof it cemented the dominance he had on the game while he was in his prime bouncing off Defenders like a bull in a china shop on his way to the end zone yet again this playstyle didn't come without setbacks the following year just like clockwork a back injury derailed his goal of putting together a third straight successful season in 2016 he only played eight games before being placed on the injured reserve to undergo yet another back surgery despite losing their do-it-all tight end the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl giving Gronk his second ring at this point people knew better than to doubt his comeback following surgery so his 2017 campaign came as no surprise when he had 69 receptions from 1084 yards and eight touchdowns which led to Gronk being first team All-Pro for a fourth time he also did everything he could in that year's Super Bowl loss to the Eagles finishing the game with a 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 2018 Gronk and the Patriots set out to avenge their loss and return to Glory once more however a nagging back injury throughout the regular season limited Gronk forcing him to miss three games and crippling his athleticism in the ones he did play in despite that he fought through a long painful season and was rewarded with his third Super Bowl ring as the Patriots beat the Rams 13-3 toward towards the beginning of the following off-season Gronk shocked the entire Sports World on March 24 2019 he announced his retirement from the NFL with an Instagram post at the age of just 29 and having played only nine Seasons Gronk simply had enough even though these facts don't come close to telling the full story Gronk cited the toll that the countless injuries he suffered over his career had taken on both his body and his mind and in his mind he had accomplished everything he could have asked for by winning three Super Bowls this was his way of going out on top and doing so on his own terms however the following off-season gronk's old best friend from New England decided it was his turn to grab all of the headlines Tom Brady was leaving the Patriots to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with this trade social media was immediately floored with rumors of Gronk unretiring to join Brady in Tampa after keeping everyone waiting for a month Gronk finally made decision one more ride with the greatest quarterback of all time and the warm sunny Florida weather proved to be enough to bring him back to the game when Gronk unretired he actually had to be traded to the Bucks because the Pats still had his contractual rights but Bill Belichick and the Patriots did right by their legendary tight end and they made the trade happen during the 2020 season now at a different point in his career Gronk was used as more of a Blocker in Tampa's offense with that being said he still caught 45 passes for 623 yards and seven touchdowns then when it mattered most as the Bucks tried to go on a postseason run tb12 knew who we could count on he turned to his safety blanket for so many years throughout the playoffs especially in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs Gronk caught two touchdowns in Tampa's blowout win and also became the first player to catch a pass in five Super Bowls after the season ended Gronk had so much fun he chose to run it back and signed a one-year 10 million dollar deal with the Buccaneers the problem was history repeats itself while the year before had been one where Gronk played all 16 regular season games for the first time since 2011. the 2021 season brought the return of old storylines in a week three matchup with the Rams Gronk was on the receiving end of the type of vicious hit that he had grown accustomed to giving out it left him with multiple rib fractures and a punctured lung although he didn't return to play until week 11 he never stopped battling despite only playing in 12 of 17 games he improved his production from the year prior and finished with 55 catches for 802 yards and six touchdowns but Gronk in the Buccaneer season eventually came to an end after suffering defeat in the divisional round against the eventual Super Bowl winning LA Rams that off season with his contract having expired Gronk had another decision to make having just gone through another in injury riddled season he realized he had nothing left to give so in June Gronk chose to hang up his cleats for good when it was all said and done he had won four Super balls and had been named first team All-Pro four times in just 11 Seasons because of his early retirement his legacy will certainly be a complicated one but there is no debating how incredible he was while on the field even with the lack of games played he finished his career fifth all time in receiving yards by a tight end with 9286 and finished third in receiving touchdowns with 93. he also showed up on the biggest stage setting a record for the most career postseason receiving yards by a tight end with 1 389 and receiving touchdowns with 14. in addition to gronk's other worldly athleticism and strength he doesn't go on to have the career that he did without Tom Brady being his running mate the chemistry between the two was just on a different level with Brady throwing 90 touchdown passes to Gronk they combined for the second most passing touchdowns in league history between a quarterback and a receiver they did this when the games mattered the most too setting a record for the most post-season touchdowns by a QB receiver combo with 15 the tb12 to Grand connection will go down as one of the most iconic of all time despite the countless health issues and lack of total Seasons played Rob Gronkowski will forever be remembered as the most dominant tight end to ever play the game so what's your favorite Gronkowski moment let me know in the comments down below if you enjoyed the video make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn on post notifications as always you're watching non-stop Sports

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 1,353,601

Keywords: NFL, Rob Gronkowski, Nonstop Sports

Id: VqOUEsdpKxc

Length: 13min 56sec (836 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 09 2022