Rob Gronkowski’s fix for the Patriots & Bill Belichick’s future
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Chestnut spoke with the former New England tight end about the state of his former team, his old head coach’s future, his top-five tight ends in NFL history and more. Rob joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of USAA.
Video Transcript
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KEVIN CHESTNUT: Hey, what's up? It's Kevin Chestnut here with Yahoo Sports. And I'm here today with Rob Gronkowski. And he's here on behalf of USAA. So let's talk about your Patriots. What do you think they should do in 2024 and moving forward?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Yes, they're definitely struggling a little bit. They got a solid defense, though. They just don't have the talent on the offensive side of the ball. I believe that maybe they should possibly go get a quarterback. There's two great quarterbacks that are going to be top five picks this year. So that could be a possibility to revamp the offense so they can compete next year.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: Do you think this is going to be Bill's last season, or do you think he's going to come back?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: No, I think it's going to come back. I mean, he's just-- he's kind of like just grandfathered clause in, my man. He's won six Super Bowls there. He's the best coach of all time. So it would be weird seeing him on another team as well. But I think he'll be back.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: Let's move on to talking about the MVP discussion. There's been a lot of chatter going on. Who do you have as your MVP frontrunner?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Man, I kind of want to see a player win the MVP, man, not just-- not a quarterback. Yes, a quarterback's a player. But I'm talking like an offensive skill player. I mean, let's give it to Christian McCaffrey or someone like that, who's been scoring a touchdown every single game. And when he was out, the team didn't win either. And now he's back, and the team is dominating again. So I say give it to a skill position, Christian McCaffrey. Let's see that happen.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: All right, so one of your former teammates, Wes Welker, he said that Tyreek Hill is actually a more well-rounded and a better wide receiver than Randy Moss. What do you think about that?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: I mean, Wes Welker played with Randy Moss, that's for sure. And now Wes Welker is coaching Tyreek Hill. And Wes Welker knows the game of football. He's played it. He's coaching it. So I'm going to have to go with Wes Welker. I mean, Tyreek Hill is just putting up numbers that we've never seen before.
They're kind of two different styles. I think Randy Moss was a better deep ball player than Tyreek Hill. But I'll just say, Tyreek Hill kind of brings the underneath game as well to the table.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: Can we talk about tight ends? Can you give me your top five tight ends of all time?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Oh, man of all times? I mean, I'm just going to give you the top five, probably, list that's just currently in my head. I mean, there's Travis Kelce. You got Antonio Gates. You got Tony Gonzalez. You got Shannon Sharpe as well, a great tight end man.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: Looking at number five. I think I'm looking at him.
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Yeah, OK. And then I'll put myself in the top five--
KEVIN CHESTNUT: There you go, yeah.
ROB GRONKOWSKI: --my man. But when I'm ranking on just those top five, man, I feel like we're all trendsetters, helped the position grow. There's no doubt about that, to keep the generation of tight ends going and to give the publicity that tight ends get now, which is huge.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: All right, please, tell me a little bit more about what you got going on. What's going on with the Army-Navy game? And how are you guys going to give out these cars?
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Yes. First off, I am here on behalf of USAA. If you haven't seen my commercials yet-- if you love the game of football, I'm pretty sure you have seen the commercials. They are my favorite commercials out there. I love shooting them.
But I am also here on behalf of USAA because they are the presenting partner of the Army-Navy game. And it's the first time in history it is in Boston, right here in my backyard where I played for the New England Patriots, right at Gillette Stadium. And I'm doing something special as well. I am giving away two cars to military families, one an Army family, and the other car to a Navy family. And thank you, USAA, for the Recycled Ride program to help out the military veterans that are in need of the cars.
KEVIN CHESTNUT: All right. Well, thanks for joining us today. We're going to check you out at the Army-Navy game. We're going to see you giving out cars. Thanks so much, Rob.
ROB GRONKOWSKI: Yes, brother. Thank you for having me. Go Army-Navy, baby.