The Loop

Bill Belichick told the most predictable Gronk story ever on "NFL 100"

December 14, 2019

While all the drama was unfolding at the Presidents Cup on Friday night, over on NFL Network the latest installment of "NFL 100" was airing, this episode featuring the top tight ends of all time. If you've not watched it, it's essentially a weekly, position-by-position countdown of the 100 greatest NFL players and 10 greatest coaches. Rich Eisen is the host, and he's joined by New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and NBC Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth, in addition to a variety of guests each week.

I've not watched any of the episodes when they have aired, but the NFL has done a good job of tweeting out the best clips. On Friday night, the best moment of the show might have been when Belichick was asked to talk about Rob Gronkowski, who Tom Brady and the Patriots have sorely missed this season. Gronk was obviously one of the tight ends to make the all-time team, which is incredible given he was the 42nd overall pick and only played two college seasons at Arizona.

That didn't stop Belichick from taking a chance on him, even though all signs pointed to him being a risky pick. We'll let Belichick tell the rest of the pre-draft story, which is the most Gronk story ever:

Any other team would walk in, find Gronk sleeping on the floor and immediately take him off its draft board. But Belichick obviously saw something, even though he only caught 28 passes his sophomore year (Belichick was off by two). He did pop off his junior year, though, catching 47 balls for 672 and 10 touchdowns in two less games than he played as a sophomore. Belichick made a huge bet on Gronk and it's pretty safe to say it paid off.