TRANSCRIPT: Rob Gronkowski Patriots Retirement Press Conference 11/12
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Here’s what Robert Kraft and Rob Gronkowski had to say during Gronkowski’s one-day contract signing to officially retire as a member of the New England Patriots.
RK: “Okay, with that introduction, I say good afternoon, everyone. Today, we’re going to celebrate one of the greatest ever to wear our Patriots uniform in Rob Gronkowski. His energy, talent, and infectious joy, like we just saw, lit up the stadium and inspired Patriots Nation for nearly a decade. Like fans everywhere, I personally love Gronk, and I treasured the unforgettable moments we shared. In my opinion, he’s actually one of a kind. I don’t think he’s ever had a bad day. If it’s true there’s an afterlife, I think we’d all like to come back as Gronk. Just a personal opinion. But next year, Gronk becomes eligible for the Patriots Hall of Fame, and I’m pretty confident our fans will make him a first ballot suggestion. I had planned to include in his one-day contract, by the way, since we play the Jets tomorrow night, how about a two-day contract?”
RG: “Let’s do it.”
RK: “Okay.”
RG: “What’s the signing bonus?”
RK: “[Laughs] Nothing’s changed.”
RK: “Well, so this one-day contract in our ceremony today makes sure he officially retires a Patriot. I had planned to do that when we did the ceremony, hopefully putting him in the Patriots Hall of Fame. We would have done that contract then. As we all know, his on field dominance and clutch performances were legendary, and his larger than life personality and connections with the fan has truly made him a New England icon. A few months ago, Rob returned to Boston to help dedicate the playground he funded on the Esplanade. At that event, a young lady by the name of Susan Hurley, a beloved friend of Rob and our organization, she was a former Patriots cheerleader, and she had cancer, unfortunately, and was very ill with it. One of her last requests, right at the ceremony donating this playground, she asked that she said she wanted Rob to retire as a Patriot. I think I’ve heard that from fans everywhere, and I explained to them how we had planned to do it. But we decided to call an audible because of Susan’s request and fulfill it right away and not make it part of that ceremony.”
“Now, Gronk still works on Sundays, so we chose our first primetime game to welcome him back and allow fans to show their appreciation for him. So thank you, Susan. Although she won’t be with us physically, she’ll be with us spiritually, and we believe she’s in our presence now. So on behalf of my family, the Patriots organization, fans everywhere, it’s my honor to welcome back number 87, our champion, Hall of Famer, and great, great Patriot, Rob Gronkowski.”
“So we should come and formalize an agreement. Does anyone have any cash here? So we get this bonus.”
RG: “Straight cash. No taxes. I’ll take a briefcase. Actually, I’ll just take the plane.”
RK: “You’re so understated.”
RG: [signs contract]
RG: “You guys can come with me. [points]”
RG: “Thank you, Mr. Kraft, for the kind and wonderful words. And this means a lot to me, big time, because I’m a New England Patriot. I’m a Patriot for life. My career started here and 100 % needed to end here. There’s no doubt about that. I mean, the whole Gronk persona, everything about myself was all because of you guys, was all because of the fans here in New England, was all because of my teammates accepting me and everyone else here, just accepting who I was from the very beginning and embracing it and letting me just play the game of football out on the football field. Everything established about my football career began here, here in New England as a Patriot. So it was an absolute no-brainer to come here and retire as a Patriot. And like Mr. Kraft said, we had plans to do that, typically if you’re going to go in the Patriot’s Hall of Fame, crossing my fingers, it happens in the future and sign the one day deal there. But with the audible that Mr. Kraft just talked about with the playground opening two months ago, which was very special to me because I actually, when I first retired here as a Patriot, I wanted to to give back to the community. And that’s when that idea to open the playground came about with Susan Hurley right there. About a month after I retired, I said, ‘Hey, I got the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation. We gained a lot of money into… We built up over a million dollars. Let’s give it now back to the city of Boston.’ And that’s when the idea first started. And now it’s all a full circle moment with it opening up. Took about five, six years with that progress to open it up because of all the contracts and all the bills that got to pass and all that nonsense. But it happened at the right time for the right reason.”
“And then Susan, while we were there, brought up, Hey, like Mr. Kraft said, ‘I would love to see you retire as a Patriot.’ And now we made that audible, and we are here today to do this one-day contract, which I think is very reasonable. I think it’s the right play to do it as well today. And it couldn’t have been a better situation this week, Thursday night football versus the Jets tomorrow night. And to be back here in Foxborough is a blessing and an honor and it’s always a privilege to come here. And it brings back so many, so many memories throughout my career. Just seeing a couple of guys, David Andrews, Brian Hoyer, threw me my first touchdown pass. It wasn’t a regular season game. It was a preseason game. It doesn’t matter. He got the ball rolling for me. He believed in me. Then Tom saw that pass that he threw to me. Then Tom wanted to throw me some touchdowns the next game in that Ram’s preseason game. When I dragged [James] Laurinaitis five yards, who was the WWE champion at the time. But I showed him, I’m here to drop some elbows. But we got Jimbo over there, still a trainer, man. Still the head trainer here. I mean, I gave him hell. But he’s still here to support me. That’s why I love the guy. Nancy fell asleep. All that rumors out there about me taking the visit here, it was on Nancy’s desk that I fell asleep on. She’s retiring here this year, and she’s a Patriot for life. Been here forever. It’s a full circle moment and seeing a lot of you familiar faces here as well. Mike Riess, likes his Riesy Pieces. That’s our saying. We’ve been saying for a long time. But, yeah, I appreciate the Kraft family, the Patriots Foundation, and just everyone here today for this wonderful opportunity.”
On what his vision is for a statue out front:
“Tom’s statue? It’s beautiful. Tom’s one of a kind. You’re throwing me on the spot like that. Mine if he put one, just put me in the end zone and me tiny, because Tom is one of a kind, the greatest. He played for 20 plus years here. I think that the only statue to be deserved here is Tom Brady, I mean, so I just will honor it and take pictures next to it.”
On the fact a moment like this obviously leads to reflection on moments in his career and what some of those moments that mean the most to him are:
“Well, I already talked about some of them with how you were throwing me my first touchdown pass. But winning my first Super Bowl here, that was always the ultimate goal, was to win a Super Bowl. And that first one will always be my favorite one. And just the feeling and the energy that came with it throughout that whole entire week after, that will be a memory for life. The parade, the duck boats, all that. But winning that first Super Bowl versus a very solid Seattle Seahawks team when they were going for the repeat, that memory will always be with me. And memories with the guys, the stories with the guys in the locker room, on the practice field. But the number one memory is winning those Super Bowl’s big time.
On the fact Susan [Hurley] was an incredible force, and what it was like to have her as a friend and to be able to do this for her:
“Yes, and we are 100% here today for her, no doubt about that. And she just did such a great job just working and running a lot of people’s charities. She founded Charity Teams in 2008, and she works and runs a lot of people’s Boston Marathon Bips for their foundations. And I’m talking over hundreds. And she did it with ease. She did it with passion. And when I first met her and she gave me the opportunity to get Bips to the Boston Marathon and the opportunity to raise money for my foundation, I knew that she was the one. I didn’t talk to anyone else. I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen anyone have so much passion and so much grace for what they want to do and raise money for other charities.’ And she had that. And I knew that she was going to be special. And she did an excellent job when working with her for the 10 plus years that I worked with her for. She made it seamless. She made it easy. She ran all the activities, all the events, and she will have a lasting impact forever, especially with being the main engine of opening up the Gronk playground.”
On the fact it wasn’t always easy here in the eight seasons he was here, 2010 to 2018, and if it’s interesting the way his career went and now looking back, reflecting how everything’s water under the bridge and maybe those tough times at different junctures ended up making his career more rewarding?
“You hit that right on the nose, Tom [Curran], for sure. It definitely is more rewarding. People ask, ‘What was it like playing for the organization at that time?’ Yes, it was tough. It really was. But I tell people all the time now when I look back at it, I needed to be in that situation. I needed it to be tough on me. It made me who I am. It made me the player that I am. It made me come in every single day to bring my best to the field, because if I didn’t, the next guy was going to replace me. And I felt that the next guy was going to replace me. And then also guys like Ninko [Rob Ninkovich] right there would have a fire under his engine. He’ll be bringing it to me in practice. So then I would have to amp up it even more and bring it to him and then all that good stuff. So it made me a better player, made me a better person, big time. And it’s making life easier as well now. It’s very rewarding to go through that stage, especially in your 20s. I needed that type of structure at that time, too.”
“I was a maniac. We all know that when I was in my 20s. I definitely cleaned it up big time. I’m still a little bit, but not like what I was. I was such a freelance, and to have that structure in my life was what was helping me big time get to where I am today and who I am today as well. And those tough times are making work easy now. Whatever I do now, I’m like, ‘Wow, look what I did back then when I was 20. I can easily do what I got on my plate now.'”
On the fact that i’s clear that he’s still loved here with the way fans talk about him, and what it’s like to still have so much love during his career and even now:
“It’s really special, and I do get a lot of love. I really do. If it’s on the plane coming back, if it’s walking my dog, if it’s just going to the grocery market. I get a lot of love from a lot of fans here in New England, and I appreciate that. And that’s also what’s making this moment very special. I mean, just literally in the last two days, a lot of people just congratulated me for this moment right here and how happy they were. I swear they were more happy for me than I was coming in here today. And like I said earlier, I appreciate the fans accepting me of who I was. I mean, it kind of made the persona very natural. It really did. And I would give credit to the fans. It wasn’t like I had to do anything special out there. I was being myself, and they just took who I was, and they blew it up to a whole other level. Like the Gronk spike. I always wanted the spike a football, and then I spiked it, and then they just took it to a whole other level. “Like the Gronk spike is the greatest thing ever.” I’m like, “I just was spiking it.” The fans here in New England just made it so great. Me doing silly things off the field, they didn’t care. They’re like, “Oh, that’s Gronk.” I got a free pass because of the fans accepting everything, which was great. I appreciate everything, and I appreciate the love from the fans, and I always want to give love back whenever I can.”
On how he thinks the 2025 team will do and how he thinks Vrabel is doing leading the team:
“Yes, the 2025 team is doing spectacular. I mean, they’re blowing it out of the water compared to what everyone thought they were going to be. I mean, we all knew it was going to be a big improvement. I said at beginning of the year because I’m such a great analyst now, guys, that the Patriots were going to make the playoffs, but as a wild card team, and they were going to come in second place in the division. But as my great analyst skills, I think they’re going to be wrong this year. We’re on track to win the division, knock on wood, and on track to not just get a wild card seed, but to get a good seeding in the top four, which makes it a special year here. And what I really like about these Patriots is that they’re not losing focus this year. Every single week, they’re getting better as a team, and they’re correcting their mistakes from the prior week as well. And they’re finding ways to have more explosiveness on the offense as well. And I would say that’s due to Josh McDaniels, and that’s why, when being an analyst, I was last year on Fox, I said, ‘Hey, Josh McDaniels would be a great fit here,’ and they ended up hiring him. Just to see him take the guys on the offense to the next level, I would say it contributes to how good of a coach he is and how he can put the players and know his talent in the right position as well.”
On the fact he had the opportunity to come back to Gillette and interview Drake for a Fox segment and what impression he came away with:
“Yes, I did, which was very special because I got to go to RKK’s office then when I came back. So it’s the second time we get to meet again here at Gillette Stadium in the last three weeks. But yeah, I did a sit-down interview with Drake Maye, which was special. And what I really loved about him is his IQ and his intelligence for the game of football. When we were just talking football and I was asking him questions, and the way he respected the guys that were before him, too. Obviously, you’re coming after Tom Brady. You’re always going to be compared to Tom Brady. But the way he answered the questions, showed his respect, but also knew that it’s his time and that he’s got to do what he’s got to do, you appreciate that type of answer. You appreciate that type of honesty and humbleness as well. And he had that. And the intelligence he had for the game of football. We were talking plays, and I was saying plays that were the name of the play when I was there with McDaniels. And now the name has totally changed. And he not just knew my play, the play when it was named, the terminology of when it was my era, but he also knew the terminology that it was of his era, too. So to know both and just know what I was doing on the play call that I said to him was just pretty impressive. So that’s when you know he has a high football IQ, and that’s what you need at the quarterback position.”
On the fact that now that he’s retired a Patriot, if he’s going to say something to Tom Brady about him retiring as a Patriot too:
“We all know Tom’s a Patriot for life. He’s got the statue. He probably did sign a one-day contract whenever at the retirement when he went in in his first year being retired into the Patriots Hall of Fame. I’m sure that Tom did sign it. I’m not sure if he did, but he doesn’t even need to sign one. They guy’s in the Hall of Fame, statue, the greatest of all time. So it’s just an honor to be able to say I played my whole entire career with them as well.”
On what he sees that this current team has that he thinks is special or maybe something that his guys had that made them special:
“They’re playing together as a team. And the Patriots right now, when you play together as a team and come together as a team, you necessarily don’t need that big-time playmaker. And that’s what everyone was saying at the beginning of the year. And that’s what everyone said with us at the beginning of the year as well. ‘We need that explosive guy. We need to trade for a number one wide receiver, blah, blah, blah.’ But it doesn’t matter when you got a group of guys that are in it with each other and know how to have that chemistry and work with each other and have the same timing on every single play and know where to be and trust in each other. Well, then that’s what makes a great team. And that’s where it’s very similar to the teams that we had in the past, too, is sometimes we didn’t have a number one guy, but everyone was a number one guy, and everyone expected to get the ball, and everyone trusted in each other. And I see the similarities this year with the Patriots as to our successful years when I was here in that era.”
On if he can comment on what’s going to be happening tomorrow night at the game:
“Yes. So I’ll be Keeper of the Light. I’ll be ringing the bell in the lighthouse at the beginning of the game, which is going to be special. Never done that before. Actually, I’ve never been to a game yet with the keeper of the light bell here. So that’s going to be really cool to be able to participate in that. And then at halftime as well, just going to be able to address the crowd and then introduce the halftime performance, which is Low Cash, their country band singer. And I’ve known them for a couple of years now. So when I when I heard that it was them, I was like, ‘This is going to be a special moment big time.’ I got Camille [Kostek] here as well. In another story with my antics, we weren’t supposed to talk to the cheerleaders, but I gave my number to Camille back in the day, and I bypassed the rules once again because that’s what I do.”
CK: “I don’t think it was your rule. I just think it was my rule.”
RG: “Yeah, it was your rule. You’re right. It wasn’t my rule. There’s my antics right there. But Camille was a cheerleader, so I’m going to see some of her cheering skills tomorrow as well. And speaking of it, Susan Hurley was a cheerleader back in the day, too. So I just have something for cheerleaders, I guess.”
On the fact we’ve seen so much expansion of the NFL into international waters such as Brazil, Spain, and a bunch of other countries, and what excites him most about seeing football grow in those international places and the fact he’s got so many fans not only in New England, but globally:
“Yes. It’s great that the NFL is expanding into other countries. I mean, I would have to say that has to be due to the owners, especially participating with conversations with Roger Goodell, the Commissioner, because he has the control. And in order to expand the NFL, I mean, I feel like we maxxed out here in the United States of America. But to make it even bigger, go globally. And I think it’s great for the game. It’s great for the players. It’s great for the players individually as well to grow their, I would say, grow their brand, too. I would say, though, not get too big because I like going over to Europe and going to other countries where no one knows who I am and just being a freelance and doing whatever I want to do and no fans coming up to me. But overall, it’s great for the game of football. I would just say to make it easier on the players is just to find the logistics to make the travel easier going overseas because the times don’t change. Playing at 6:00 AM and all that, just find the best ways possible to make sure the players are ready to go, and give them enough time to recover after that game, as well as after you play in a different country.”
On the fact he played for one head coach during his time here in New England, and the fact he said earlier it wasn’t always easy to play here but when he thinks back to his time with Bill Belichick, what are his reflections of playing for him and the impact he made on his career:
“Coach made a huge impact on my career. I wouldn’t be here without this organization, without Coach Vrabel, without my teammates, without RKK, without anyone that I had tenured time here with and spent some quality time with here in the organization. But Coach Belichick, one thing he truly taught me is preparation and how to prepare for games and how to prepare for the upcoming Sunday versus whoever you’re going against, and prepare if it’s a terrible team you’re facing, if they’re on 10 or prepare the same way as if they’re 10 and 0 as well. And always be ready for any situation. And I’m implying that into my life as well, big time. I mean, if I prepare, going up, going into Fox on Sunday, I feel like I have a good day. If I slack off a little bit, I think it makes it a little bit harder. So always be preparing and bring your best stuff and then being able to adjust on the fly as well. Coach Belichick was so good at that, being able to adjust, put us in the best situations to be able to succeed. And just the way he coached us as well to be the best possible player that you could possibly be. If it was in the meeting rooms, calling you out. And I see the reasoning behind it. Sometimes you would get a little disappointed, you get a little frustrated getting called out. But now I look back at that now, too, and I appreciate him coaching me hard, him being hard on me. And I definitely sometimes maybe took it for granted, but definitely look back now and I appreciate all those situations that he put me in, if it was easy or hard.
On how he would describe the camaraderie after football with his Fox colleagues, Tom [Brady] and Julian [Edelman]:
“Yeah, it’s great. I mean, a lot of players struggle after the game of football to find that locker room feel, and I’m definitely lucky to still have that feel a little bit. It’ll never be like the playing days in the NFL, but to have Tom and Julian as well at Fox, it makes you kick back your feet, sit back and relax and be comfortable more. To have Julian on the kickoff show there, we do segments all the time together. When Tom’s in town doing a game in LA or something, he comes on our show, too, or we ask him a question on the screen. It makes it more lovable. It makes you feel more comfortable as well that we’re all there together because we all understand each other. We all understand the way we process football. We understand the way that we have football knowledge, and we know how to work together as well. So it’s great. I love that we’re all there together.”
On what was the best catch he ever made:
“That’s a great question to end on, baby. Right there. Tom[Curran], wow. I would say the greatest catch I’ve made. I mean, I would have to go with one of my one-handers. There’s so many. I can’t even think of what one.
The Buffalo one?
“Yeah, the Buffalo one.”
The Denver one?
“And the Denver one. Well, the Buffalo one was… They’re like tied to me because it was versus Buffalo, my hometown team. I always love to stick it to them. It was on the sidelines versus an all pro safety. Tom threw it back and I toe tapped both feet in and I brought it in. But the Denver one was pretty special, too, because I caught it with my broken forearm. It was broken at the time, too, still. No, it wasn’t, but it sounds good. But I had the cast on it. He threw it backwards. It was a team meeting. You’re not supposed to throw the ball in a team meeting. I mean, that’s what Coach Belichick said all the time, but Tom did not listen this time. Threw up there, and I just turned around and just one-handed and brought it in. What made it special is I just lined up out wide on the very next play.”
“See, this is great being back here. All the memories are just flowing. You don’t think about these memories when you’re just sitting at home, but being back here in the building, they’re all coming back. Then I caught it on the two-year-old in the very next play. Josh McDaniels knows when to call your number again. He knows when you’re on fire. He knows when you’re tired. He could tell from practice and all that. Just like in the Super Bowl, actually, my very last catch in the Super Bowl, I swear he saw me open on the seam. We called the same exact play on that 28-yard catch to bring it to the two-yard line. And then we scored the very next play with Sony Michel. It was the only touchdown of the game, but I ran the seam and I was open. I literally came back to the huddle. I was like, ‘All right, two seams in a row. I got basically my broken quad.’ But I was like, ‘McDaniels is going to call it again because I know he knows I was open. He knows I can get open again.’ I literally get to the huddle, same exact play. I go, ‘This one’s coming to me 100 %.’ And run the route. Tom throws me the bomb, catch it to the two-yard line, and then we score the very next play for the only touchdown of the game. So that was special. But the one play, Denver, the one-hander there, and then going out wide versus Von Miller and running the slant route for the touchdown, the very next play.”
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