The Rob Gronkowski-New England Patriots story just keeps getting weirder.
The all-world tight end shocked many after Super Bowl LII by implying he might retire. Since then, reports linking Gronkowski both to acting and the WWE (what’s the difference?), as well as cryptic tweets from Gronk himself, have fueled speculation that the 28-year-old might walk away from the NFL.
NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran then reported Monday night that Gronkowski “didn’t enjoy himself” last season, and that he considered stepping away from the game during training camp.
The Providence Journal’s Mark Daniels responded to Curran’s report Tuesday, affirming Gronkowski’s angst last season while inserting some fascinating context about a story he wrote in January detailing Gronk’s adoption of Tom Brady’s workout/dietary regimens.
Here are Daniels’ tweets:
“The team didn’t necessarily want him to train the way he wanted to train. … He was pissed and the season played out.”
That’s true. The Patriots also didn’t want me to write a story on Gronk doing the TB12 diet and working with Guerrero. https://t.co/m3deK09hUX
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) February 27, 2018
Gronk agreed to talk to me about his new diet and when the Pats found out, they told me it couldn’t happen. But since Gronk really wanted to talk about it, he did. In the end, I still got a 1400-word feature out of it, but it was annoying how the Pats tried to stop the story.
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) February 27, 2018
They told me they don’t want players talking about diets or workout routines, which was strange because players talk about that stuff a lot.
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) February 27, 2018
Make of that what you will.
If nothing else, Daniels’ tweets suggest that Brady’s wellness beliefs — and Guerrero’s pushing of said beliefs — really have become points of contention between Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft, as ESPN reported in January.
Will this all eventually lead to the breakup of New England’s power trio (or quartet, if you include Gronkowski)? Only time will tell, but perhaps it’s time we take Lane Johnson’s description of the Patriots a bit more seriously.
