I didn’t know he said that so yeah this just got more interesting and maybe Florio was right to call it out. If Tom only got the playbook a couple weeks ago when he visited Leftwich then doesn’t that mean Gronk had the playbook even before TB did? Then the question is why and how? The scenario you mentioned would be one way that happens for sure.
Or Brady was lying about the real reason he was visiting Leftwich, having a bag of footballs. Which he probably was but that’s a different topic.
Either way I think this is worth a look by the league and the Patriots should speak up about it.