Why, Gronk, why?
Buffalo Bills fans were thrilled when Rob Gronkowski left the AFC East to reunite with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay in 2020. This meant the Bills no longer had to deal with Gronk demolishing them twice a year as he did for the first nine years of his career.
Why are we talking about Gronkowski on a Bills site in December, you ask? Well, he was asked about the Bills during his latest appearance on The Dan Patrick Show and didn’t hide how angry he was when the Bills didn’t draft him.
“When I was growing up as a kid I 100% did want to play for Buffalo. That was the team. I mean I was a Buffalo Bills fan,” Gronkowski said. “I loved Eric Moulds, Takeo Spikes, that era right there was the era where I was really into it. We weren’t really passionate like you see now with Bills Mafia because we were just so busy [sic] with everything going on with my family how I had four brothers so we didn’t really get to get to too many games but we were Buffalo Bills fans [sic] just overall as a whole and definitely always dreamed of playing for them.”
Gronkowksi couldn’t have just left it there, however. The long-time Patriots tight end had to get his shot in at his childhood team that passed on him that he then went on to torch in the pros.
“I think it worked out for the better when they passed on me twice and I always used it as motivation as well. [Sic] You know I was really pissed that they didn’t take me but deep down I kind of knew that when I got drafted to the New England Patriots that it was a way better situation at the time.”
Rob Gronkowski takes a shot at Bills for not drafting him
Gronkowski went 42nd overall to the Patriots in the 2010 NFL Draft and the Bills had held the ninth and 41st picks in that draft. Gronk went one pick after the Bills had taken Torell Troup in the second round and well, the rest is history, unfortunately. While Troup went on to play just 21 games and was out of the league after 2011, Gronkowski became arguably the best tight end of all time.
Gronk played 16 games against the Bills during his lengthy NFL career and consistently put up monster stats when playing them. Fifteen of those games came as a member of the Patriots and one was during his short time with the Buccaneers. Gronkowski finished with 74 receptions for 1,132 yards and 12 touchdowns, so to say that he had the Bills’ number was an understatement.
While Bills fans could argue that Gronkowski would not have been the same player had the Bills indeed taken him, it’s still frustrating knowing that he wanted to be a Bill and not only did the team not take him but the Patriots reaped the benefits. Gronkowski went on to win three Super Bowls with the Patriots and a fourth Super Bowl title with the Buccaneers.
Now, of course, Gronkowski did say that he’d have loved to have played with Josh Allen but most tight ends would enjoy having that opportunity. It’s too late to compliment the team now, Gronk. You’ve hurt this fan base too much.