Gronk's contract-related shot at Patriots prompts on-air apology originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Rob Gronkowski has suggested several times in recent years that he doesn't love how the New England Patriots do business.
He offered another rather strong suggestion Wednesday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
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The former Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end admitted he's seen players go out of their way to earn performance bonuses tied to their stats -- then "joked" that Bill Belichick's Patriots would go out of their way to prevent players from hitting those incentives.
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"Yes, I've seen it before actually," Gronkowski told Kimmel. "Not with the Patriots, though. I mean, they'll probably pull you before you hit that bonus there."
Gronk seemed to realize he may have crossed a line, adding "I shouldn't have said that" after some nervous laughter. (His one-liner comes around the 7:20 mark in the video below.)
Gronkowski could have passed that off as a harmless joke, but the 32-year-old evidently wouldn't put it past Belichick and the Patriots to try to save a few bucks by keeping him on the sideline while he needs just one more reception to unlock a salary bonus.
That may explain why Gronk took his talents to Tampa Bay, where Bruce Arians had the opposite approach over the past two seasons. With Gronkowski needing one more reception in the Bucs' season finale to earn an extra $1 million, he and quarterback Tom Brady conspired to get him his payday.
"With the Bucs, they're down for their players to collect all their money they possibly can, which is great," Gronkowski told Kimmel.
Gronk hasn't officially committed to playing yet in 2022, and while it's probably only a matter of time before he runs it back with Brady in Tampa Bay, we know one team he's definitely not playing for this fall.
