The Patriots drafted Rob Gronkowski exactly 10 years ago Thursday. And it’s safe to say they have no regrets, as the University of Arizona product established himself as one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history while winning three Super Bowl titles in nine seasons with New England.
Sure, it’s a bit awkward the 10-year anniversary of Bill Belichick snagging Gronkowski in the second round (No. 42 overall) in 2010 comes in the same week New England traded the 30-year-old to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reuniting him with former Patriots teammate Tom Brady.
But Gronkowski, who sat out the 2019 season, expressed appreciation for his time with the Patriots in an Instagram post Thursday. So, everything’s peachy — at least publicly.
With that in mind, let’s consider this a joyous occasion for New England, which reaped the benefits of Gronkowski’s elite production for nearly a decade. And let’s relive the moment Gronkowski heard his name called on April 23, 2010, after the Patriots completed a draft-day trade with the Oakland Raiders.
The moment @RobGronkowski found out he was heading to the @Patriots ? @nflthrowback
(by @verizon) pic.twitter.com/sPPt64YbkL
— NFL (@NFL) April 22, 2019
Gronkowski’s alma mater celebrated the 10-year anniversary with its own tweet that doubled as a Throwback Thursday post.
With the 42nd pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select…
?GRONK?#BearDown | #TBT | (via @nflnetwork) pic.twitter.com/DPSt677b2o
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) April 23, 2020
We should’ve known we were in for a treat after that Gronk family celebration.
Play NESN.com’s 2020 NFL Draft Game
Gronkowski more or less broke the mold in New England, adding some flair to the “Patriot Way” and adopting the “Do Your Job” mantra in a manner that was wildly entertaining. Belichick seemed to know what he was getting into, too, judging by the Patriots coach’s comments immediately after drafting Gronk in 2010.
“So Rob Gronkowski, certainly an interesting player,” Belichick said, according to a retrospective piece published on Patriots.com in 2016. “Excellent size, very well thought of down there by Coach (Mike) Stoops and his staff. We visited him a couple weeks ago. I think as we saw there, in New York, he’s kind of a fun loving guy who enjoys having a good time, but he plays like that, too. He plays with a good attitude. He’s aggressive. He seems to be having fun out there and he was a good playmaker for Arizona in the 2008 season.”
The Patriots definitely rolled the dice with Gronkowski, who missed his junior season in 2009 due to back surgery and didn’t exactly make a strong impression during his pre-draft visit with New England. To say they wound up hitting the jackpot would be an understatement.
So, why exactly was Belichick willing to gamble on Gronk?
Here are a few other nuggets from Belichick’s media availability after drafting Gronkowski in 2010, courtesy of Patriots.com:
Q: How high did you rate Rob Gronkowski’s pass catching skills and how might you employ those going forward?
Belichick: He has good receiving skills. In 2008, Arizona used him both at the conventional tight end position and then also split out. They put him out of the formation, sometimes on the strong side. They also put him out on the weak side by himself back there and they throw it to him, particularly in the red area on slants and individual cuts back there. And he’s a big guy. He’s a hard matchup for a defensive back. He’s 6-5, 265, or whatever he is. He’s big and he plays big and he has a big frame. A lot of times he just boxes them out and they stuff it in there to him and he’s just a hard guy to cover. He’s a strong runner with the ball in his hands. He’s run through some tackles, made some yards after the catch. They used him in the passing game. They used him in a number of different ways – deep routes, middle read routes and also some individual isolation stuff and then the conventional passing tree we see most tight ends run. I thought he did a good job of that in 2008.
Q: Since you’ve been in New England have you had anyone that you would consider similar to Gronkowski?
Belichick: I’d say Kyle Brady. Kyle was maybe a little bit bigger, but that kind of frame. He ran well, big target, big physical guy; a guy that’s not a tackle, but not too far from looking like a tackle.
Q: Does Gronkowski give you an added ability in the red zone?
Belichick: We’ll see. He did for Arizona. I think he was, as I said, he was a pretty effective guy for them and at times they put him out on the weak side of the formation down inside the 20 or I saw him down there a few times on the goal line. But you could tell they were kind of isolating him and letting him kind of body up on some of those guys and stuff it in there to him. But he caught the ball well and seemed to have a pretty good sense of how to get himself between the defender and the quarterback and just take the ball away from the defender.
Kyle Brady, huh? No disrespect to Mr. Brady, who had a productive 13-year NFL career that included one season with the Patriots (2007), but that comparison sure sold Gronkowski short in hindsight.
Anyway, happy anniversary to Gronk and the Patriots — however strange it might seem in light of recent events.
