It's Good to Be the Gronk by Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski

Author:Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery/Jeter Publishing

10

WELCOME TO THE NFL

About a week after the draft, I went to the Patriots facility in Foxborough, Massachusetts, for the May rookie minicamp. Just the rookies were there, so I didn’t get to meet Tom Brady yet. When we got there, Coach Belichick told us right off the bat that it didn’t matter if you were a first-round pick or an undrafted free agent: everyone seated in a chair would be treated the same. He told us that if we worked hard, knew our plays, and took advantage of our opportunity, then we would get more opportunities. If we didn’t, then he’d replace us with someone who would. He talked to us straight; he told us everyone gets a fair shot and he treated us like professionals. He made me want to get to work.

A few weeks later we had a full-team minicamp. The camp was in the middle of nowhere so it was easy to focus just on working. To be healthy, to be pain-free, to be strong, light on my feet, and feel fast were superexciting for me. I just studied my playbook; I didn’t go out. I tried to fit in, stayed humble, and soaked in what the other guys were doing, like a sponge.

When the veterans got there, I eagerly got to the facility first thing in the morning. I went into the training room to get my ankles taped so I could take the field nice and early. While I was getting taped, Tom Brady, the legendary quarterback that I had been watching on TV since middle school, actually introduced himself to me: “Hey, I’m Tom Brady, nice to meet you.”

“What’s up! I’m Rob.” I didn’t really know what to say other than that. Being a rookie, I was intimidated and didn’t want to say the wrong thing. I had all the respect in the world for him and did not want to get on his wrong side. It was a brief introduction, on the fly as he was walking through. I couldn’t know it at the time, but that would end up pretty much the nicest he was to me over the entire year.

We all hit the field shortly after. I was watching Tom throw passes to the veteran receivers, and was waiting for my turn. I finally got to run the drill with him. It was the easiest route in the world, just run straight fifteen yards up the field and then turn around to catch it. I ran at 75 percent like I was told to do and turned around for the ball. I had run that drill a million times in my life and could catch that ball in my sleep. And yet from the moment I lined up to run and until I turned around, I couldn’t stop telling myself, “You better catch that ball! Tom Brady is throwing you that ball and you need to catch it!”

That’s the worst kind of thing that can happen to a receiver. You don’t want to be thinking anything or feeling any pressure.

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