Gronk re-creates ‘crying’ Brady episode
Tight end says QB tearfully asked him to join Buccaneers
Admit it, you’ve been dying to know the details of THE phone call. You know the one, between thennewly signed Bucs quarterback Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, his star tight end for nine seasons with the Patriots who retired after the 2018 season.
The result: Gronk comes out of retirement last month and joins Brady in Tampa Bay after engineering a trade by New England.
So what did Brady actually say to his buddy in that phone call? What kind of recruiting pitch did he give? Did he promise Gronk would be able to extend the hours of the late-night establishments in Ybor City or maybe on Davis Islands?
Gronkowski made a virtual appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden on Thursday night and pulled back the curtain on the call. Keep in mind, this is the Gronk version.
“He went through his whole process,” Gronkowski said of Brady. “He did what he had to do, and then I called him, and I was like, ‘Wooh, Tampa Bay, baby.’ I was like, ‘How’s the weather down there?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, it’s great. It’s fantastic.’ “And then I was like, ‘Oh, man. You know, Tom, I’ve been thinking about football a little bit.’ I’m just teasing with him, and he’s like — I can just tell he’s getting all this excitement. And then I’m like, ‘Oh, my mom lives down there, too, like an hour away, you know. It’d be great to have a new opportunity.’“
Then Gronkowski went into his Brady imitation, complete with a highpitched voice rarely heard outside of a 5-year-old’s first time seeing Mickey at Disney.
“And all of a sudden he just screams on the phone, ‘Rob, I just want you to come back and play with me!’ And I was like, ‘Oh, all right, all right, I’ll come back, then, Tom. No problem.’
“He was crying like, ‘Oh, my God. Just please come back.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, you just missed me that much?’ So I had to come back.”