The more and more we learn, the more and more miserable Rob Gronkowski was during his final few seasons with the Patriots.
Gronkowski appears in the latest episode of Tom Brady’s “Man in the Arena” docuseries, which premieres Tuesday on ESPN+ and reveals he was actually happy when he was suspended during the 2017 season.
In an early December game, Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White picked off a pass and while he was on the ground, Gronkowski speared him -- White ended up with a concussion and the Patriots tight end was suspended a game.
“I was happy,” Gronkowski says. “I was finally happy. I was like, ‘Yes, I’m away from football for a week. I get to recover my body.’ I mean, when you’re running full speed into people, it definitely was taking a toll on me. … You need to recover from football, and that’s what a lot of people don’t understand out there. It’s just grind, grind, grind. I lost a game check — I lost a paycheck; it was about $300,000, that game check — and I didn’t even care one bit. I was just glad I had a week off from football, because I needed it.”
Gronkowski admits he was frustrated penalties were not going his way and he also was growing tired of the Patriots culture.
“If I was practicing, I would be practicing three days, full speed,” he says. “I didn’t need that. I don’t need to be grinding my body into the dirt. … I was so beat down from the season. I was like, ‘I’m good.’ …
“It was a tough season. It was a grind season, for sure. Let me tell you, it wasn’t really that fun of a year. It was just a little eerie, the atmosphere with the Patriots.”
That season obviously ended with the loss to the Eagles in the Super Bowl and Gronkowski says he wasn't the only member of the team to feel like he did.
“There was a lot of guys, including myself, that just weren’t really having a good time,” he says. “We would just show up to show up, go out to practice. I mean, we did what we needed to do. We were winning games still. (But) it definitely was taking a toll on me.”
Gronkowski played one final season with the Patriots before retiring prior to the 2019 season.
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