New England Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski, who retired after the 2021 season, remains closely tied to the NFL as part of the Sunday studio crew for Fox Sports.
Gronkowski is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time in 2027. He’s among a stellar group of first-year eligibles, but he has a good shot to make the Class of 2027. In addition to winning four Super Bowls (three with the Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), he finished his 12-year NFL career with 621 receptions for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns. The 92 TD receptions rank third all-time among tight ends behind Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez.
Gronkowski is in his fifth year working with Bounty for its “Official Wingman of NFL Gameday” campaign. Gronk was in New York for a Bounty event this week, and that’s where Athlon Sports caught up with him.
(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)
CRAIG ELLENPORT: First off, tell me about the Bounty event you’re at today.
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Yeah, this is my fifth year teaming up with Bounty, and it’s a wonderful campaign every single year. And the last four years, I’ve had a wingman — Charissa Thompson, Julian Edelman, Drew Brees — they were my wingmen. We were going around with Bounty and just doing our thing. And now this year, I don’t have a wingman. I stepped it up a notch. I can handle gameday alone, but Bounty paper towels are my official wingman on game day now.
I love to host, especially when I’m home on Monday night. Love to have friends over, family over. And I got to have a nice spread of everything, a variation of all the different types of chicken wings, pizza, what else? Nachos and cheese — big nachos and cheese, guy — and dips. And things get a little bit messy. Sauce goes all over the place, and that’s when Bounty paper towel just comes in, cleans up the mess, and just keeps your house shiny clean once everything’s all done and the night’s over.
CE: Tell me about the biggest mess you’ve had at one of these parties.
RG: The biggest mess I had was actually after a game when I was done playing. I was a little drunk, and I took all the food and threw it all over my kitchen. And my roommate was like, “What are you doing?” And I was just causing havoc because that’s kind of the idiot I was at the time. And actually, we got it all cleaned up.
And I’m pretty sure it was a long time ago. It was before the campaign. I’m pretty sure it was Bounty paper towels that cleaned it all up as well, because we sat there the next morning.
It took about 30 minutes. But I made a mess for no reason. It was stupid. But it was great at the time.
CE: Here’s the segue to talk football: Talking about messes… after two weeks of the season, what’s the biggest mess you see in the league right now?
RG: Oh, the biggest mess I see in the league? Oh, I would say injuries at the quarterback position. That’s a mess. That is the biggest mess, because the quarterbacks are the superstars of the teams. They’re the superstars of the league, and we need quarterbacks healthy. And with three starting quarterbacks going down, that’s a mess right there. I mean, it’s not good for the game. It’s not good for fan bases.
We all love to see the starting quarterbacks go, especially when there’s a big difference in play from the starting quarterback to the backup quarterback. So that’s a mess right there. And hopefully everyone can stay healthy. But that’s the nature of the game of football as well, which stinks.
CE: There are a lot of great tight ends in the NFL these days. Obviously, you are near or at the top of the list of all-time great tight ends. Who out there do you see as a great combination of receiving and blocking, which is what you were so great at, out there right now?
RG: No doubt about it. It’s George Kittle. And he just has impressed me tremendously over the last two weeks, especially last week versus the Miami Dolphins. The way he’s just willing to block defenders is just phenomenal, but also the way he contributed in the pass game last week. He looks fast. He looks explosive. He was mauling defenders after he caught the ball.
So George Kittle is a complete tight end in the NFL. And I would say he’s the best complete tight end in the NFL. And if you’re looking overall at numbers, I think Trey McBride is the best number one tight end. But complete overall tight end is George Kittle.
CE: November 7 is a big day for you: Patriots Hall of Fame. Big event. Talking about making messes, I’m assuming it’s going to be a little messy at the party for that?
RG: Oh, it’s definitely going to be a mess for sure, no doubt about it, especially the afterparty. I mean, it might be clean, you know, when we’re on stage and during the ceremony, you know, and everything that’s going to be going down. That will all be clean. But it’s the afterparty that’s going to be a mess. That’s going to be fun. Seeing ex-players that I played with for so long, my whole family there, that’s going to be a blast.
And I can’t wait for it. It’s definitely a special honor going into the Patriots Hall of Fame as a first ballot and just how many guys are before me and to be categorized in that group is just amazing.
CE: And then there’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You’re eligible this year for the Class of 2027 for the first time. A lot of great players who are first year eligibles with you, so it’s going to be some interesting voting, tough voting. But assuming you get in next year, if Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft are in that class as well, it could be a fun Patriots party.
RG: Yes, it really could be. But, you know, I don’t really like to talk about things that are out of my control. But like you said, it could be a great scenario where it’s a Patriots party. So we will see what happens.
I’m all for the process, doing the process. And I’m just excited for the Patriots Hall of Fame coming up the November 7th weekend, the Packers game. They’re playing the Packers that weekend. So that’s going to be fun. That’s going to be a great day. And then just let everything else take care of itself with the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
CE: Tom Brady is calling that Packers-Patriots game on Nov. 8, correct?
RG: Yes, he is. Fox has that game and he’s calling it.
CE: Will you be making an appearance in the booth on that Sunday?
RG: I’m not sure because I’m actually going to be doing the pregame show with Fox. It’s going to be our veterans pregame show. I’m going to be in West Point with our military members. I’m going to be doing the two-hour pregame show. Then I’m going to be shooting over to catch the game back in Fox. So it’s going to be interesting, you know, to get that aspect done, all the logistics there.
But I’ll get back for the game. I think they’re honoring me as well at halftime for the Patriots Hall of Fame members at the game. And then, I don’t know, maybe I’ll jump in the booth. But he doesn’t want me in the booth. He won’t have a job anymore.
CE: I think you’d be a great color guy doing games. Have you thought about doing that?
RG: No, no. I’m great where I am. I love being the analyst. Color guy, it’s a lot more on the table. You’ve got to know a lot more players. But I’m satisfied where I’m at, you know, in the (studio). I’ve got a great team around me, just being an analyst out in L.A. at the studio. So that’s where I see myself for sure and just try to get better every week.
CE: What’s your prediction for the Patriots this year? They’ve got a tougher schedule than they had last year, off to a slowish start, but what do you think?
RG: I think they’re still a solid team. Their defense is legit. I think they’re going to try to keep figuring it out on offense. They’ve got to run the ball. They’ve got to pound the ball in the A gap, B gaps, come up with some outside runs as well, get that run game established to where that’s going to lead their offense and score points for them. But just overall, their defense is phenomenal as well, and they’ve got solid special teams and solid coaching.
So I see them getting into the playoffs. I don’t see them being spectacular right now. I think there are better teams than them as of right now, but they can definitely make the playoffs for sure.
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