Full disclosure: I’m not much for the discourse around team Hall of Fames, though I would agree that the Celtics and Bruins have sent a few too many numbers to the rafters. I also raged a few times about Bill Parcells not getting a red jacket from the Patriots, but my day wasn’t ruined when he didn’t get in for all those years (finally entered last summer).
However, when I was asked to participate in the nomination process alongside 21 other members (mostly media), I happily said yes. I’ve covered the team for 25+ years and followed them as a kid growing up in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. If there’s going to be a committee, I see myself as a value add, even if I’m not going to lose sleep over how the voting eventually plays out (the fans carry the biggest stick in this process).
Thus, about a month ago, I sat in that room with the likes of Dante Scarnecchia, Andre Tippett, and a bunch of media schlubs as different folks nominated a player. There were the obvious: Adam Vinatieri, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, and Logan Mankins. There was a strong pitch made for Julius Adams (which I backed) and an impassioned speech for Mosi Tatupu. It’s conceivable I’m forgetting someone else because I can’t find my notes from that day (nice job, Mike). I spoke up three times. Once for Welker, once for Mankins, and, as I mentioned, Adams. At the end of the discussion, we all received ballots with lines for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place. 5 points for 1st. 3 for 2nd. 1 for 3rd.
As I thought about how I wanted to fill out my ballot, knowing that once it was tallied, the fans would have the final say…I knew Gronkowski would win. Not like that made me Oz the Mentalist (that schtick is overplayed), but call it a combo of recency bias, his huge personality, and, obviously, the fact that he’s one of, if not the greatest, tight ends to play the game. Gronk will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and while I’m compelled to think he should go in as a first-ballot guy, I did talk to a current voter a few years ago who strenuously objected to that sentiment. So between that and the Belichick thing this past year, nothing would surprise me. But I digress…
Filling out the ballot was more challenging than I thought. I decided to give Vinatieri my first-place vote. He’s already in Canton. How can he not be in Foxborough? Plus, the entire two-decade run started, in part, because of some of the biggest kicks in football history. What happens if he misses in the Snow Game? That first title doesn’t happen (and another clutch kick to win it all vs. the Rams). What if he misses in Super Bowl XXXVIII (win over the Panthers)? The Pats defense was in shambles. Like, get the guy in already. He freakin’ tackled Herschel Walker for goodness sake. Vinatieri is not a better player than Gronkowski, and you know how I feel about most kickers. But he is deserving, obviously.
What to do then for second-place? Mankins is one of the six or seven best players in the modern era. He’s a 6-time All-Pro (first or second team). That’s the best of the best. Mankins led, he never backed down from a challenge - including beating the Pats in a game of contract chicken - and posted damn near every week, including playing a full season with a torn ACL. Oh, the humanity. 3 points for Mankins? Done and done.
That left me with the final spot. And let me tell you, internally, I hated myself a little when I put Gronkowski’s name down over Welker’s. Not because Rob doesn’t deserve it. Of course he does. He was as unstoppable a force as these eyes have witnessed, and cared a lot more about the team than his personality would lead you to believe. Gronkowski was an elite receiver but nearly as impactful as a blocker.
Some of you might be yelling at me right now, saying, ‘How could you not put him number one?’ I already gave you my rationale. I wasn’t worried about him not getting into the final three fan vote. But it does bother me that Welker remains out, just as much as it does with Vinatieri and Mankins (who, like Wes, have been eligible longer).
Do you realize that from 2007 through the 2012-13 season, no one caught more passes than Welker? In fact, his 672 receptions were 80 (!) more than his next closest competitor, Brandon Marshall. In five of those six years, he had over 100 catches. And for those of you who think it was all dink and dunk, Welker was 4th in receiving yards (7,459/11.1 yards per catch) over that stretch, trailing only Calvin Johnson (7,836), Roddy White, and Reggie Wayne. Throw in 37 touchdown catches, and that remarkable comeback from an ACL tear in 2010 - the only season he didn’t have over 100 catches during that run, and yet he managed to play every game - and I hate that Welker is still on the outside looking in. Not losing sleep over it, but in retrospect, I wish I had thrown him a bone.
Could I have lived with that philosophy had others voted the same, and somehow Gronk had been on the fan ballot? Yep. To me, that wouldn’t have been some egregious mistake. Just an acknowledgment that this team was so good for so long that they’ve now got a backlog of players deserving, and unless Robert Kraft comes down from the Ivory Tower (or maybe the Lighthouse?) and decrees a couple of these need to go in in addition to who the fans voted for, guys like Welker and Mankins may have to keep waiting…and quite frankly, they were too good for that.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and a hearty congratulations to Gronkowski, who no doubt will make his induction day one to remember because, well, he’s Gronk.
SPEAKING OF…
Gronkowski conducted a Zoom call on Wednesday from…wait for it…his brand new pontoon boat off the coast of Florida. Like I said, who knows what he’ll have in store for us at his ceremony, but there will be plenty of tomfoolery and probably a couple of remarks that skirt the line of appropriate. It’s just his way.
“It's a pontoon boat, single engines, nothing fancy,” Gronkowski told us. “But let me tell you, they're the best boats, and they ride really nice. And today's my first day on it, so I'm actually learning right now how to park it and how to drive it. And it's going really well. I'm already in the Hall of Fame of driving boats.”
But the conversation did take a few serious turns, including the 11-year pro discussing the litany of injuries that once caused him to retire (he sat out the entire 2019 season before joining Tom Brady in Tampa for two more seasons).
“You start from ground zero every single time you get injured,” he said. “And that adversity of just getting knocked down just continuously, from a hit on the field that just absolutely shatters your leg or shatters your knee or your shoulder, whatever it is, to be able to bounce back from that, it's difficult. It really, really is. Because you never know if you'll get it back. In order to get it back, you’ve got to keep pushing yourself harder and harder and harder like you never have before. And you’ve got to understand what your limits are and what your limits aren't, and how to go to those limits without overdoing it as well.
“So, coming back from injuries definitely helped shape who I am. And it also kind of extended my career a little bit, because I didn't know how to take care of my body at first. I just showed up, I really did. I just showed up when I was in college, I worked out hard, and just went to bed, woke up the next day, and went hard again. But in order to extend your career, you’ve got to understand your body.”
He added that understanding didn’t come until he was around 26. Two seasons later, Gronkowski had his last 1,000-yard campaign. Overall, he had 521 receptions for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns in the regular season, and posted 81 receptions for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in the postseason.
Per Patriots PR, Gronkowski ranks first in team history with 80 total touchdowns (79 receiving and one rushing), and his receiving yards are second best for the franchise. He earned five Pro Bowl selections (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017) and four Associated Press First-Team All-Pro honors (2011, 2014, 2015 and 2017).
DRAFT CRUSH
I will share some final thoughts on the Patriots' draft, culled from my friends across the league. The plan was for this week, but many of them, like me, needed to turn the page and take care of some business. So, hopefully, at some point next week, and certainly by the next Notebook.
I can, however, share that, as I reported just before the draft in this space, the Pats had an affinity for edge rusher Zion Young. Not enough to take him in round one, especially as Caleb Lomu slid further down the board than many expected. But, per a source, the team loved Young’s ability to set an NFL edge already, while also believing there’s more in there as a pass rusher. They were also comfortable (enough) with the DUI charge in December.
Alas, the Ravens didn’t let Young get far enough down in round two for him to become a realistic option. They took the Missouri standout 45th overall. His performance will be one to monitor this year and going forward, especially as compared to Lomu and second-round pick, Gabe Jacas.
SAVING BURROW?
The Bengals aren’t known as big spenders, although in recent years they have doled out megabucks contracts to Joe Burrow (duh), Ja’Marr Chase (double duh), and Tee Higgins. And while they didn’t want to give Trey Hendrickson the long-term deal he wanted, they still paid him handsomely (over $90 million over the length of his tenure).
But with free agency done, and the 10th overall pick in the draft, Cincinnati was all set to make that high pick while hoping that they’d done enough to get back to the playoffs, and in doing so, convince Burrow not to ask for a trade. That Burrow rumor has been a constant in NFL circles this offseason, and whether it started in one place and became a game of telephone, or if it has real legs, remains to be seen.
“I don’t give up the 10th pick in the draft,” GM Duke Tobin said.
But when it became evident that the game of chicken between Dexter Lawrence and the Giants had reached the point of no return, it was the Bengals who jumped in with both feet. They were intent on acquiring a player who, prior to this past season, had been one of the best in the game. But first, they had to get Mike Brown and his family on board…because the cost would go beyond the 10th pick. It was about the money Lawrence was owed and what he wanted going forward.
“We got together and met, and there was a firm commitment to ‘let’s see where this goes,” Tobin said of conversations with ownership.
With the full blessing of the big bosses, Tobin swung the deal prior to the draft - there was no way they were getting it done on the clock - gave Lawrence a $6 million raise over the next two seasons and an $8 million bonus next March. That financial commitment has now pushed the Bengals to the top in the league in active cap spending and 8th in total cash spending (the real number).
“There’s always a risk,” noted assistant GM Mike Potts. “With a dominant, impactful guy like Dexter Lawrence, we weighed all the odds. We weighed all the scenarios.”
Now, they’re in deep, hoping Lawrence helps transform the defense and appeases the quarterback, convincing him Cincinnati ain’t that bad after all.
AGE-DEFYING
We have seen a couple of quarterbacks play ball after 40. In fact, Tom Brady did it better than most guys in their 20s and 30s. But what Calais Campbell is embarking on is remarkable in so many ways.
The soon-to-be 40-year-old defensive lineman is signing up for a 19th NFL season, rejoining the Baltimore Ravens. He was with that franchise from 2020-22 and earned his last Pro Bowl selection in that initial campaign.
"The first thing I feel is a badge of honor, that I can still do it, I can still hang with the young guys," Campbell said back in December. "And then I feel old. I feel old."
Campbell is still extremely productive despite playing a position where double teams are the norm. It’s not as if he’s a small target either; he’s 6’8”, 320 pounds. Yet even for a bad Cardinals team last year, he still recorded 23 solo tackles, 9 TFLs, 6.5 sacks and blocked two kicks. He did all that as a part-time player. He is third all-time in game played by a defensive lineman, at 279 games, and should easily eclipse Jim Marshall (282) and Bruce Smith (279) and ascend to the top of the list.
"I've always tried to play well enough where I have a choice," Campbell said.
You, sir, have done it, and done it well.