Rob Gronkowski's teammates come to his defense: 'He wouldn't want to harm anyone'

FOXBOROUGH — In the wake of Tre'Davious White labeling Rob Gronkowski a “dirty player” after his hit late in Sunday’s game against Buffalo, Gronkowski’s teammates responded Thursday, saying that the tight end isn’t the type of guy who will try and intentionally injure another player.



“I won’t respond directly to Tre'Davious, but I’ll defend the character of Rob,” said tight end Dwayne Allen. “Rob is a guy again, who is a tremendous player. (He’s) a high character guy who comes to work, who loves his teammates and loves playing the game of football and goes about playing the game the right way.

“I can only speak to his character. I’ve only had one year of Rob, but everything that Rob has shown me this year has shown me a guy who loves the game of football, goes about playing it the right way, and wouldn’t want to harm anyone.”

Those statements were echoed by veteran safety Duron Harmon and linebacker Marquis Flowers.

“It’s rough to comment on that because it’s just bad,” Harmon said. “I’ve known Gronk for five years now. Gronk is not only a tremendous football player but a tremendous teammate. He’ll do anything for you. Always has a smile on his face. Always doing the right thing.

"In that moment, it didn’t happen," he added. “But I wouldn’t call Gronk a dirty player. It (was) a bad situation.”

“Gronk is a great guy. Obviously, what happened, he apologized and he said what he had to say, so I’m not going to elaborate on that any more,” Flowers said. “But he’s not a dirty player. Every player had had a play. You don’t call anyone a dirty player based off one play.

“Gronk is my teammate. At the end of the day (I know) he’s a good guy.”