Patriots' Rob Gronkowski Owes A Lot To Former Teammate

New England Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski gave a lot of credit to one player for his growth.

Jul 28, 2016; Foxboro, MA, USA; New England Patriots defensive end Rob Ninkovich (50) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) take the field for training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images / Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

The New England Patriots were lucky to have some amazing talents during their recent glory days. From Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski, to Bill Belichick, to Randy Moss, to Julian Edelman, the list could continue going on.

Speaking of Gronkowski specifically, he was one of the biggest fan favorites on the roster. In fact, he still is to this day.

Gronkowski is one of the best tight ends to ever do it in NFL history. He was a consistent threat each and every week and put up monstrous numbers.

He hasn't played professional football since the 2021 season, which makes it seem that he is likely done. No one can completely count him out, but it would be shocking to see him consider an NFL return at this point.

Assuming he is done, he put together an amazing NFL career. He played in 143 career games, catching 621 passes for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns. Gronkowski also averaged 15.0 yards per reception.

Recently, Gronkowski took some time to speak out about his career and he gave an awful lot of credit to one specific former teammate for what kind of player he ended up becoming with the Patriots.

"Ninkovich, we go way back. Without Ninkovich, I wouldn’t have been the player that I was," Gronkowski said. "I’m being serious. We used to go at it in the run game, 1-on-1’s. … It is like this. We make the best of it. That’s what we were like on the practice field. Just back-and-forth all the time, passing game and running game.”

New England fans miss watching those teams play. Each and every week, the Patriots were a feared football team. They had star players on both sides of the football and an elite coaching staff as well.

Looking at this year's team, New England has some talent to build around for the future. Drake Maye has looked very good in his rookie season, but he needs more weapons in order to take a huge leap forward.

Being able to find someone like Gronkowski for Maye like they did for Brady would be huge for his future.

All of that being said, it's always good hearing stories like this from former Patriots legends. These kinds of stories simply further show how tight-knit New England was and how hard they pushed each other towards greatness.

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