Rob Gronkowski arrived in Tampa Bay with championship pedigree and the billing as arguably the greatest tight end in NFL history.
That didn’t prevent Bruce Arians from getting on Gronk’s case when he was underperforming, though.
Gronkowski recently was asked by NFL Network’s Kay Adams to identify the best piece of trash talk he received from the Buccaneers head coach. The three-time Super Bowl champion looked back on a moment in training camp when he was roasted for dragging.
“During training camp, my first two-minute drill — I wasn’t in that good of shape at the time,” Gronkowski told Adams. “About the third route into the two-minute drill, I was probably running half speed because I was really tired. ‘Get Gronk the (expletive) out of there. This (expletive) — he’s in New England shape. This is Florida shape you gotta be in down here.’ It was classic. I loved it.”
A recent admission from Gronkowski makes that training camp anecdote not terribly surprising. The 31-year-old cut some corners while going through Tampa Bay’s offseason training program, the tasks of which players were asked to perform at home.
But while Gronk got off to a slow start in his first season with the Bucs, he ultimately became a critical piece of the Tom Brady-led offense. And come Sunday, he could be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the fourth time in his storied career.
