Bill Belichick must have watched the tape on Rob Gronkowski in college and wondered: What’s the catch?
Of course, there were the medicals. Gronk had back issues. But then there was Gronk’s personality. He is and was unique. His huge personality proved better than harmless in New England — his positivity and goofiness was contagious.
But before the 2010 NFL Draft, when Gronk was coming out of Arizona and ultimately landed in New England, Belichick couldn’t get a read on the frat-star tight end. So he made a phone call to then-Arizona coach Mike Stoops. Stoops recently relayed the story of that conversation to The Ringer’s Ryen Russilo. Here’s what Russilo said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” Keep in mind that Russilo is clearly paraphrasing the words of Stoops.
“[Belichick]’s like, ‘Alright, what’s the deal with this Gronk guy? This guy an asshole or what?’
“[Stoops] is like, ‘No! He’s a big teddy bear. He’s unbelievable. You’re gonna love him. You’re gonna love having him around. All he cares about it is winning. He’s absolutely everything you’d want in a guy.’
“[Belichick] is like, ‘Alright cool.’ That Because he’s trying to figure out, is this one of those guys that’s too much extra? Is he distracting? And all those things. But [Stoops] was like, ‘No, he’s awesome.'”
Classic Belichick.
For the coach, it’s a binary: jerk or not a jerk? Not a jerk. Great, then this phone is conversation over.
And what a funny match Belichick and Gronk became, winning three Super Bowls and the tight end ending up in five Pro Bowls in the process.
