It’s tough being a receiver for Tom Brady. Just ask the guy who’s caught more touchdown passes from him than anyone else, Rob Gronkowski.
During an appearance on Julian Edelman’s “Games with Names” podcast, Gronkowski told a story from his rookie season when the former New England Patriots quarterback threatened to never throw Gronkowski’s way again.
“I remember I ran a flag route and I ran inside the guy instead of getting outside of him and he flipped out on me in the meeting after the practice and told me he’s never going to throw me the ball again,” Gronkowski said.
Gronkowski admitted that he got upset by Brady berating him. However, the rookie got some assurance from veteran tight end Alge Crumpler, who told him “Tom’s just being Tom, man. Don’t worry about it. Keep doing you.”
Gronkowski later realized that the comments were Brady’s way of challenging receivers and lighting a fire under them. That’s just what happened for Gronkowski.
“I just wanted to prove Tom wrong,” he said. “Like, ‘All right, I’m gonna run this flag route every time now and you’re never going to throw me the ball. But I’m going to be open by five yards and you’re gonna look like the idiot now.’ And that happened and then he threw me the ball about 600 more times from there on out.”
Brady went on to throw 620 completions to Gronkowski, to be exact. That includes 90 touchdowns, the most of any player to play with Brady.
Gronkowski wasn’t alone in facing criticism from Brady. Edelman said that he was also on the receiving end of tongue lashings from Brady on a regular basis, but noted that the quarterback often took the time to explain why he acted that way.
“He came up to me and he goes, ‘Hey, if I yell at you, that means I like you,” Edelman said. “I was like, ‘Well, you must really love me then.’”
Gronkowski admitted that adjusting to the NFL and playing with Brady was tough at first. The former tight end admits that he wasn’t truly comfortable in New England’s offense until late in his rookie season.
It also took some time for Gronkowski to realize that, as harsh as Brady could be, it was all in an effort to make the players around him better.
“If he gets on you, he sees potential in you. That’s why he got on your ass all the time. He got on my ass all the time,” Gronkowski said. “I didn’t really like him my rookie year. I mean, he was just getting on my case, just non-stop and it was kind of mind-(expletive) me so much.
“I couldn’t be myself out there sometimes,” he continued. “I couldn’t run the right route because I was just thinking so much, because there’s just so much on the plate at first. I got a coach telling me to do that, I got Tom telling me to do this and then finally, you just figure it out and it all clicks.”
Gronkowski played 11 NFL seasons, all with Brady as his primary quarterback. Gronkowski played nine seasons with Brady in New England before reuniting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two seasons.