We are almost there. The list of the 25 best Patriots over the last 25 years has now reached the penultimate player. I put his name in pen when I first started to collect the no-brainers, wrote a #2 next to his name, and never once thought about changing it.
2. Rob Gronkowski: At his peak, Gronkowski was as good at his job as anyone in football, and that includes the man who will be number one on this list (I wonder who that will be?). He was a first-team All-Pro four times over a seven-year period, and it would have almost certainly been more had injuries not sidelined him a couple of times. Then again, had Gronkowski not entered the league with questions about his back, he never would have made it to the Patriots in the second round. That they still picked him after he showed up for a top 30 visit in shambles - he fell asleep on the floor between meetings - was proof the organization foresaw an impactful player. But I’m not sure they even knew how great Gronkowski would be.
“It wasn’t a great visit, but I think that’s - look, you know how it is traveling around cross-country going from one team to the next, getting MRIs and back x-rays, or whatever. I am sure it got to him," Bill Belichick recalled. “The energy that Rob has as a football player is - I would say - at a very high level. Maybe not a (Tedy) Bruschi, but it is up there. It’s pretty high and we didn’t see it.
“In the end, once we got him here and once he got in the field, Rob was great. He was great. He had a great career here, but he was a great teammate. Everybody loved him and not because of his (personality) and all that, but just the way he competed and the type of teammate he was. Sometimes the first impression is not always the right one.”
Gronkowski’s rookie campaign was damn good - 42 catches and 10 scores - but year two may have been the best season by a tight end in history. He reeled in 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns (and added another rushing touchdown). There have been players that have surpassed one or two of those numbers, but with the exception of San Fran’s George Kittle, none of the others blocked worth a damn (I’m looking at you Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez and Jimmy Graham).
"Robbie G was amazing for a lot of reasons, probably one of the most underrated things he did - which I don't think was underrated - he's the greatest blocking tight end to ever play," Tom Brady said. "He manhandled guys who were bigger than him, and he outran guys who were smaller than him. He was a matchup nightmare."
Brady had a soft spot for Gronkowski, but a) no lies were detected in that proclamation and b) their connection was magical. Only Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison hooked up for more touchdowns than TB12 and his man-child tight end. Gronkowski dictated matchups in a way no tight end could because of his ability to be isolated one-on-one outside the numbers or have his hand in the dirt and torture safeties or outrun linebackers.
"Imagine trying to cover that," Brady said. "He just gets