The Kansas City Chiefs will begin their quest for a three-peat on Thursday night, as they look to do something that hasn’t been done since the Lombardi Packers. The closest any team has come to that feat is the New England Patriots, who won two out of three on several occasions. Rob Gronkowski was part of one of those runs in New England, and he knows the unique position the Chiefs are in trying to fend off the rest of the league and taking everyone’s best shot each week.
We got a chance to talk with Gronk this week as part of his new campaign with Tostitos, where he joined forces with Tom Brady and Julian Edelman once again for new commercial spots that will run this season. We talked about the bond he has with those two (and all of his Patriots teammates), what fans will get to see from Brady and Bill Belichick now that they’re going to be doing TV, the challenges facing the Chiefs quest of a three-peat, the growth of the tight end position, and the pride he takes in helping make being a tight end cool.
To start, I want to talk about Tostitos campaign and what this was like putting it together and getting to work with Tom and Julian again on these spots?
Yeah, well, obviously I’m teaming up with Tostitos and some of my all time favorite teammates in Julian Edelman and Tom Brady, there’s no doubt about that. And it’s to kickoff the 2024 football season with a series of hilarious new TV commercials, and it’s the show that you can’t have football without Tostitos. And when I heard about this campaign, and I heard I was going to be teaming up with my former teammates, I knew it was a no brainer, because Tostitos? The number one chip in the game, it’s the championship chip to have while watching football. My teammates, they’re championship teammates on and off the field. So when I heard this campaign was going down, I knew it was a no brainer to join them and shoot this series of TV commercials.
How special is that bond that you have with those guys, and not just Julian and Tom, but all of those Patriots teammates? Because you spent so long there and you had that same core for so long, and you won so much together.
It is special. It’s special because we went to war together on the football field for 10 years straight. We know each other inside and out. We know how we work inside and out. We know our skill sets out on the football field. We know how to utilize each other’s skill set. We know how to pick each other up. We know how to rag on each other. We were together every single day. We’re basically all family, you know, we’ll all be friends for the rest of our lives. And the most important thing is we won championships together, and we put our bodies on the line for each other. You know, I did everything I could do to help win a championship. I put my body on the line to help win a championship. I saw Julian Edelman put his body on the line every single week to help us win a championship. And obviously with Tom Brady putting his body on the line, you know, to win a championship year in and year out as well, or to be in contention to win a championship and be the best teammate possible.
So when you got teammates that were doing that, along with plenty of other guys as well that were on the Patriots and coaches as well. So whenever you can team up with guys like that for a campaign after football, you do it. Because you can reminisce about it, we can rip on each other, make fun of each other again, because that’s what it’s all about. It’s like bringing the locker room now to a TV commercial set.
Fans know Tom as the greatest quarterback and they know him as a competitor, but this year he moves into the broadcast booth. What are you excited for fans to be able to see in terms of Tom off the field?
I’m excited for fans to see the knowledge that Tom Brady possesses with the game of football. The guy knows the skill sets of the defensive players like no other. He knows when an offensive player that’s on his team is going to be open against a certain defender. He knows the mismatches, he knows the blitzes, he knows the defensive line, he knows their stunts, he knows the coverages. So if he can just share that knowledge and just project that knowledge, fans are going to love him even more.
Your old coach is making the same transition, as Bill Belichick’s gonna be doing TV work this year. What are fans gonna see from him, because you see Belichick on the sideline, he’s kind of stone faced, and didn’t give off a ton of emotion. But what do you think fans are gonna get to see from him now that he’s gonna have to kind of peel back that curtain a little bit?
Hey, we’re already seeing it. Coach Belichick is the absolute man right now. He has done, like, a total 180 since his coaching gig with the Patriots. I mean, he was uptight, for sure, with the media when he was the head coach of the Patriots. And it worked. It was for a reason, and it worked. Got him championships, got us championships, Super Bowls, all that good stuff. And now that he’s not coaching, he has opened up like no other, and he is showing a side that no one else has seen. I mean, no one has seen, and everyone’s loving it. Fans are loving it. His players that he coached are loving it. I’m loving it. And he’s just showing, like, his perspective of the game of football lately, and it’s been great for everyone.
The Chiefs are trying to do something that hasn’t been done in a long time winning a three-peat. What is the biggest challenge they’re going to have to overcome internally in terms of getting to that and winning a third championship, because you’re one of the few people that has firsthand knowledge of being on a dynasty type team?
The Chiefs are spectacular. I mean, they’re the first ones to go back-to-back since the Patriots in 03-04. I was too young, I was not part of the 03-04, team. I was part of the team where we went to three Super Bowls in a row — after the Atlanta game, then we lost to Philly, but then we came back and beat the Rams. And the thing is, to win a championship, you got to keep the band together. You got to keep the core guys together. You got to keep the core coaches together. And that’s what the Kansas City Chiefs have done. They got the majority of their core players there that have been there, that have won the championships, that are still there, that are going into this year.
They’re adding players to the weak spots of their roster to make them even better. For example, they had really no receivers last year for Patrick Mahomes, and now they upgraded to a whole ‘nother level. They got one of the fastest guys in the history of the game they drafted in the first round this year, Xavier Worthy. So like, they’re on the right path to do a three-peat, but the problem is, you have a target on your back and everyone’s coming for you. But I feel like the Chiefs know how to respond. They’ve been in that position before, obviously winning the Super Bowls, and then everyone coming for them. So they’re in a good position, and everyone has to be on the same page. So they’re running that organization well, from top to the bottom, from the ownership to the coaching to the players.
Who are the teams that you look at, and if you’re picking the biggest threats to knock the Chiefs off, who are the teams that you’re most excited to see challenge them this year?
Well, obviously the San Francisco 49ers. I believe they have the best team in the league on paper, but they have not been able to get it done in crunch time. And once again, they have the best team on paper. They just signed all their players. They’re on the field. There is no excuse why the San Francisco 49ers should not win it all this year. They just got to show that they can get it done in crunch time. On top of that, I think the Baltimore Ravens adding Derrick Henry in the backfield has just elevated the Ravens to a whole ‘nother level, as well. They got a great defense. So I think those two teams are going to be out there to give the Chiefs a run for their money.
Both of those teams have great tight ends. And I want to talk to you about the influx of talent and the continued growth of that position. What you’ve seen from when you came in the league in 2010 to now in terms of the growth of the tight end position and what guys are being asked to do and allowed to do?
Well, the tight end position has definitely grown over the last two decades. You know, it wasn’t a position that was, you know, to be amused about. It wasn’t a position you wanted to play growing up as a kid. It wasn’t the dream position, and now it is. There’s so many players out there that kids want to be like Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Mark Andrews, because the tight end position is now cool. The tight end position is a position that makes plays now. It’s not just a position to go out there and block, you know, and be an extra offensive linemen. And you can attribute this from all the way back from Antonio Gates to Tony Gonzalez to Jeremy Shockey, to those guys that were well before my time, that I loved looking up to. And now you got George Kittle, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews. You got a rookie coming in, Brock Bowers. You got Sam LaPorta. They’re continuing to make the tight end position cool, making plays, running guys over, scoring touchdowns, and that’s what it’s all about. That’s what makes the fans excited about the position.
How do you think about your legacy in that? Do you think about your place in helping make that a thing? And how proud of you are you in terms of your impact in regards to that, not just winning championships, but what you did for the position?
Yes, definitely, I love what I did for the tight end position. I definitely take pride in it. You know, I wanted to revolutionize the tight end position when I got to the NFL. I knew that if I worked hard enough, that if I got put in the right situation — and I 100 percent sure did going to the Patriots — that I could help take the position to a whole new level. And just being able to spread out wide was the factor of taking the position to another level.
It’s finding a mismatch by motioning across the field and going into the slot, or being on the open side of the three by one formation, and being by yourself and going one-on-one, and just having everyone look at you and they know the ball is going to you, and you still go up and make the play. That’s what it was all about. And then at the same time, be able to line up in the line next to the offensive tackle in the trenches, and be able to move the guys out of the way so the running back can run behind you. So making the tight end position cool, fun, interactive with fans, was definitely special during my time.
I talked to George Kittle, and he mentioned the ability to do everything was something that he loves about the position. And, you know, it seems to draw guys that really love football, because you kind of have to, right? Because you do have to get your nose a little dirty on the line and do that. It’s not always the glamor position. But do you think it attracts that certain kind of guy if you’re going to thrive in it?
Yes, it does. It’s going to attract a guy that wants the physicality of what the NFL brings to the table. You can’t play the tight end position and wanna patty cake throughout the game you can’t do that. You know, that’s for the wide receiver position — that’s for the divas out there, not all of them, but that’s what some wide receivers are like [laughs]. You know, catch the ball, go down. That’s not what it’s all about. You got to be the guy that thumps. You got to be able to be the guy on the team that brings the attitude to the table when you catch the ball. You got to be able to pound the other team, let them know that you’re not going down when you catch the ball. And that’s what it’s all about. Being a tight end is being physically and mentally ready every game and being able to do it all.
