Games with Names - Highlight Reels: Best Rob Gronkowski Stories

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Rob Gronkowski shares some of his favorite stories from his NFL Career with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside Julian EdelmanSupport the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Stefan Curry, and this is Gentleman's Cut. I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of developing the profile of this beautiful finished product. With every sip, you get a little something different. Visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly.

I know he has a reputation, but it's going to catch up to him. Gabe Ortiz is a cop. His brother Larry, a mystery Gabe didn't want to solve until it was too late. He was the head of this gang. You're going to push that line for the cause. Took us under his wing and showed us the game, as they call it. When Larry's killed, Gabe must untangle a dangerous past, one that could destroy everything he thought he knew.

Listen to the brothers Ortiz on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody, it's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast, and it's that time of year again when we knuckle down to do our annual holiday episodes. We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them into a 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly, or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Who would you call if the unthinkable happened?

My sister was y'all 22 times. A police officer, right? But what do you do when the monster is the man in blue? This dude is the devil. He'll hurt you. This is the story of a detective who thought he was above the law until we came together to take him down. I said, you're going to see my face till the day that you die. Listen to the girlfriends, untouchable, on the eye

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I got you. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Yo, yo, yo, yo, can we get a Thanksgiving first? I'm hungry. What's up, y'all? It's Kadeen. And DeVal, the host of the Ellis Ever After podcast.

This holiday season, tune out the noise and tune in to Ellis Ever After. On Ellis Ever After, we get real with our crew about family, love and marriage, and everything else in between. Listen to Ellis Ever After. on America's number one podcast network iHeart. Follow Elizabeth Rafter and start listening on the free IHeart Radio app today. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian Edelman, and we got a brand new compilation highlight reel starting now.

Now, Grom talks about going off script at the roast of Tom Brady. How about that roast night? That was a fun night, too. It was one of the best nights of my life. I've been telling a couple people that it might be better than the Super Bowls. Why is it better than the Super Bowls? Because it was three hours, just like a Super Bowl game. And we didn't get hit for those three hours.

And it was just as exciting. It was. You guys took some hits. Oh, yeah. We took some different hits. Mental hits, though. Delivered blows. Can you talk us through your joke writing process?

All right. I'll go through my joke writing process. So I actually have a friend named Nate Dog. He's been my lifelong friend since we both come out of the wound. We lived on the same street growing up. known each other since like literally one month year old how do you how do you say that when you're one month year old less than one oh less than one we were one month and uh we were best friends since and uh maniac funny guy always on point uh i told i told them i'm doing the roast i was like

these are the people that are going to be at the row so i was like whenever you're feeling it whenever you got some time off just throw me some jokes so uh you know then on that i'll get back to that and then on top of it you got all the people that were the writers yeah roasts that were ex-comedians that are roasters as well you had geoffrey ross on the phone call as well you get on the call they ask you if you got any you know material they ask you if there's any situations you've ever been in that they can create jokes for you tell them a couple stories what how how close you are with the other guys that are going to be on the panel and then they came back to me about five days later and had a list of jokes as well. And I read a couple of them.

I switched them up a little bit. There were some that were spot on. I was like, yo, you guys hit that spot on. I'm just going to keep it as clean as it is right there. And then also in that meantime, I wrote about five of my own jokes as well. And then I gave them those five jokes. And then my friend of Nate Dogg gave me his 10 jokes. I sent in those 10 jokes. So then the five jokes I sent in the 10 jokes Nate dog sent in and then the 15 jokes that the writers all came up with we put them all on the table I read through them the way I was pronouncing everything you know we had a couple 30 minute sessions where I was going over to jokes they were seeing how it was coming off and then did about two or three of those practices and then they came back a day before the event

and they go here's the final script and the final script just was everything was in order how, you know, the Julian's jokes all right there, all Tom's jokes, all categorized. And then, boom, I loved it, you know. But I was reading the teleprompter and, you know, because you could sit there and I was infatuated with the teleprompter and who was using it, who wasn't. And so Rob, you know, he was doing a couple of the teleprompter jokes

and you went full rogue. You went full rogue and just started going off the crowd. And like half of it wasn't he, you just, you just, you just, Roby jaded. Absolutely nuts. Well, you almost blew the roof off the place. Jack,

I did blow the roof off the place. You did. One of my talking about this almost. Yes. Oh my God. But here we go. So I went off script a few times because like I said, it was like a Super Bowl moment. Like I felt like I wasn't even inside my body once I got up there.

First off, I finished a bottle of tequila. I haven't been drunk like that in quite some time. And tequila is like an upper. So you were next to me, Julian. that bottle that was underneath my legs when we sat down Kevin Hart had like a third of it which is impressive he's like two inches tall and like he finished a third of the bottle with myself and he can completely you know compose himself like he's an animal you think he's sober when he's drunk and like the guy can handle anything and then he's funny sober or drunk anyways

and then you finished the bottle with me then the bottle girls were bringing drinks to us as well so when I got up there I was ham dude like that to Kila went like it amped me up when I when I stood up on stage and then I just start firing off the jokes and then when the final script came in I was kind of disappointed there was some of the jokes that were left off and they were like a everyone only has five to six minutes so we can't do every single joke so everyone had jokes left off their script but when I got going I saw some opportunities present to where the jokes that got left off script were ready to be fired. And I fired those jokes off. And plus, I was getting ripped on as well. So I had to stand up for myself as well. So that's how I went rogue. He went rogue, and it was great.

And then he ends it and finishes it with the gronk spike, which a chef's kiss, a mic drop. Were you planning on that or was that? That just happened. No, no, nope. They planned on it. The writers planned on it. It was in the script. It was in parentheses at the end, gronk spike shock glass.

so I had to do it and right when I did it I mean I knew it was a great idea and then right when I did it and I saw the glass explode everywhere I said oh shit that was the worst idea I mean I would have grunt spiked it like into the podium so it like wouldn't go all over the place it was kind of dangerous we are lucky and blessed that no one got hurt in that situation there was a lot of people in the front row that could have led to you know a dangerous path where someone could have seriously gotten hurt and we're lucky no one did because, you know, the party gods are always on my favorite, are always on my side when I'm partying. Nothing ever wrong goes happen because I'm partying for the good of people. So God's there to make sure that no one gets hurt when I do something dumb because it's for the people. It's for the people. The party gods, baby, smiling down upon you. Man, this has been the off season of Tommy. So many events. Yeah. And it's because it's his first time.

Is it second year? No, first, no. He's going into a second year. Yeah, he's going to a second. Yeah, he's going into a second. What moment are they going to use for his 12-foot statue in front of Foxborough? They're going to probably use my third leg. To hold that statue up.

It'll probably let's go on. Yeah, let's go, statue. Yeah, it'll be that one. I don't know. What about the trophy one where he's like this? Oh, backwards hat? Yeah, backwards. How?

Oh, man. I was wondering. on or off if they were or maybe his combine pitcher that's a statue right there that would rock inspo inspo cotton blind people on day games

one do you think they're going to reveal the statue half time of a game before a game I don't know end of August are they going to have their own ceremony fill out the stadium against 65,000 just to reveal

a statue what's going to happen They'll have an event to reveal the statue, the rendering, then an event to reveal the real statue. I mean, Jesus, how many events can we have? Only time can do that. Amen. Only time. I mean, he is the greatest of all time.

Yeah, he is. It is the greatest of all the time. He's the only one who can do that. Amen, brother. Next, Gronk and Julian talk about the time they really made Coach Belichick mad. People always think that, like, you still just go out and party. No. Drunk never drinks in.

I mean, I love to have a great time, no doubt about it. I mean, dude, we partied so hard back in the day, though, too. Like, remember us on that golf cart and where, in Nantucket? Well, Fagaui. Fagawi weekend. We got in so much trouble, though, for that because. Yes. What I, you had a surgery?

I think it was my forearm. And, no, was it? And then I had a foot. Yes. We were both getting pulled. We were in the back of a, what was it was a golf cart? And people were filming us. And then we weighed so much.

And I think the people in the front got off the golf cart. And when they got off, the golf cart, the front two wheels went up in the air. And we fell right onto the ground and like face planted. And the crazy thing about it is we had no clue that we even did that until we saw the video on Barstool four days later. And the caption of Barstool was not really sure we want our star wide receiver and tight end acting like this in Fagawa. but we love them for it yeah and i was like that's why i love barstool they're sticking up for us bro you remember how mad bill was oh man you fucking assholes kid like jesus christ can you guys just stay out of the headlines just you guys are hurt lines yeah yeah you guys aren't

even in practicing right now you can't even go on the field and you're acting like drunk idiot's effigali of course we are we're young and dumb i would not change a thing bro imagine if we didn't do that now and we try to do it and we try to do it now it would be it would be hard to do it now we did it when we could yeah that's the best part about it we did it was such a fun trip that's a fun trip did you pull it up do you have that it's online somewhere dude let's look at it look how young we look in all these videos thanks for watching the fumble you know your memorial day weekend was lit when justin timbrelake tweets you to compliment on your dance moves Yeah, I'm talking about Gronk.

Really? Really? Here's a glimpse into their weekend. Edelman let us know exactly... Oh, that's Tom's butt. I thought it was mine. I'm jealous of Tom. Breed Brady!

Look at us, dude. We were maimiax. You're pouring a beer on my head. I'm front row, the concert. Gronk made Patriots fans a little nervous when he had. He was a little nervous when he attempted to do the splits and crawl on the floor at the same time. This was two months before training camp. Bill, we're training.

We're stretching. Their entire Pat season flash before their eyes. Now here we go. There it is. Oh, that's what happened. Oh, that's what happened. But no worries, they were okay enough to dance to Justin Timberlake on stage later that night. was your i don't remember him being there yeah that's the grong move right there yeah oh dude we used

to dance our face off i swear that made us a better players though because we're doing so many different type of type of movements yes calisthenics it was our cardio we were dancing for four hours straight and we burned off all the alcohol while we were dancing too that's why we're always ready to go when we showed up next gron cancer's fan questions and reveals a new big business idea. Julian, I got a lot of respect for you, man. The way you play the game, it's a freaking gangster. I'm watching your episode with Grunk right now, and let me just say, I want to see a fight

between you and Grunk. You know, Jiu-Zitsu's all about the smaller guy, and I really, really think you could take him, you know? I want to see it happen. I want to call you the bearded wonder. I'll throw on a ghee. Go no geat doesn't matter. I want to see you guys get after it.

Step on the math and see who's boss. But what's the question? What is the question? Who would have win in a fight? Oh, that's a question. I just love how he started it off. His name's Tyler, and he's a Brazilian ju-jitsu. Brown belt.

Don't go there, Rob. We're trying to get him on the show. Roast mode over. No, Rosmoe. No, right. No, right. I was just saying. I was just saying.

You got to turn the page. Man, I mean, I'm going to tell you this right now. I don't even know but Julian is an absolute dog I can tell you this there are plenty of people out there that are bigger than Julian and I guarantee

Julian would whip their ass in the dog I like that I like that I like thinking of you guys as a tag team duo not adversaries yeah

Grum will kill me let's move on here to our next question the hotline does accept text message messages. So we got a hotline text that came in. Hey, this is Jace Potter. And my question is for Jules and Granc. Did Grant ever get in trouble for denting the Super Bowl trophy with the baseball? That is from Jace Potter. I listen. No. No, I never got into trouble. Nice.

No, I never have. It's kind of like in the Hall of Fame now, like the dent. It's like legendary. I have the ball. But now we never got in trouble. If anything, it just grew our They loved it. Just grew our legendariness. Well, everyone was terrified of how Mr. Craft would react, like all the people that worked for him. But then it was like, he didn't care. Everyone's like, oh, yeah, it's great.

Stacey James saw, I mean, he almost had a heart attack. He had a heart attack. Oh, heart attack. But Vince Lombardi, because they make a new one every year, it doesn't have some of that, like, oral history like the Stanley Cup does. But that, and being in the Hall of Fame with the dent, it has that, like, legend to it. That it's awesome.

We appreciate the story. small jab to our trophy that you did to try to sneak in. Hey, whenever, hey, anytime hockey can get in there, you got to get it in there. All right, last question. Jules, Grogh, thank you guys both for your service. My question is this, if the two of you had to go into business together and it couldn't have anything to do with sports whatsoever, what would that business be and what would your roles be?

Circus. Circus, that's one podcast. Yeah, but can't be anything to do with sports. Could do like a food podcast. And then, oh yeah. And then I would say, I think we would be really good on only fans. Yeah. I feel like.

Together? Yeah, together. Lincoln Bio. Lincoln Bio. To do it together. Never showed a junk. Never ever show it. Never ever.

You can't be the one that shows a junk. But I'm pretty sure. I looked it up the other. day because someone recommended me to get an only fans and I looked up who what dudes are on only fans and how much they're making a month and it said this is what it said on Google is that taiga is making 80 million dollars a month somewhere no 40 million I think a month from only fans from only fans type it in right now jack that it was some outrageous number to where just saying that just giving me a

little spark to maybe start a business with jewels it says taiga has for 20 bucks a month to subscribe uh they estimated here he's made 20 million so far off his only fans total oh total is what i'm saying someone said he was making 20 mil a month or 40 or something they google it right in front of me but yeah i was only wrong on that one hey 20 no crazy amount we could get at 40. Yeah, we can get about 20 to 40. Now, Gronk tells a story of falling asleep on his New England Patriots visit. I was so sick of that visit, dude. It wasn't just a visit. Were you sleeping? Just wasn't the visit to the Patriots. So what, I went on like a little tour. Like you go and I visited 12 different teams. It's kind of like

you're going on these recruiting visits to each team because they want to get to know you. Yeah. The New England Patriots were the last ones on the list. And bro, I was sick. I was flying from Denver to Jacksonville to freaking Baltimore meeting with every team and I was so sick of it and you know you're putting like kind of a front on as well and I was literally so sick of I go I want to be outrageous here I need to have some fun with it I remember I was kind of hung over too feeling like crap all these flights I went out and party a couple of the nights too so I wasn't even feeling like myself so I was like how do you get back to normal you just you just become outrageous and I show up bro I was so tired. First thing I do is fall asleep in Nancy's office. Yeah, Bill Belichick heard all about it.

He couldn't believe it. And then I go into the interview session and Billy O'Brien draws a play up and then he races on the board. He's like, all right, can you name the what the wide receivers did, like rename their route and what the responsibility was? I was like, bro, I have no clue. I couldn't even think. And then he's like, he's like, what do you do? I was like, you just throwing me the fucking ball, Billy. I'll make some guys miss. I'll run over some people. he's like he's like but you don't know the play i was like i don't need to know the play you throw me the ball like that's basically how our interview went and then i literally walked out of there called drew rosenhouse i said this team is either going to take me or they're fucking laughing at me and i give

no fucks because i'm over this whole process so what happens no one page is trade up for me for the 42nd pick in the NFL draft in 2010 and select me and i looked around the table i said i told you they were going to take me but billy oh so going back to where we started that is grunk right there that whole thing and they built up like i remember them talking about you the coaches saying like yeah man you're gonna love this kid he's fucking just awesome he had like explained the whole thing that you just explained and like that was like oh my god what like that doesn't happen in new england you know what i mean and gronk kind of from your little story right there you can kind of portray that you're not a smart football player like but you were

like brilliant like they would explain that like don't think that gronk didn't know his fucking plays this guy you coached him once on one thing he never had to say it again like he was like one of the most football intelligent guys i knew yes i mean at that time when i was doing the interview i was beat down i was sick of it so i couldn't really recall you know the play after he showed it to me and then also i did struggle a little bit though my rookie year with the playbook i actually would have probably started every single game from the beginning my first eight games i only was playing about 15 to 20 plays a game if you can recall that and then finally boom the playbook hit i mean it was a tough playbook i mean in college i literally think i had like 15 plays and i

lined up in the same spot every single play and i get to new england and man let me tell you that playbook was outrageous it's not just the playbook it's the personnel groups you're playing y you're playing f exactly you know what i mean it's wheels you guys got a flop like it it was it was definitely tough it was definitely a challenge and the fucking formations there's so many goddamn formations it drove me crazy like i said in college i had one formation i lined up in the same spot every single play i'm not lying every single play i get to new england what 65 different formations yeah actually probably 150 different formations but then we narrowed it down about 65 dude my head was spinning all over the place and finally just clicked you know once i got it under control about week 10 it's remember i scored that

touchdown versus Chicago Bears versus Brian Erlacker. Oh yeah. What was that? Panther route where I had to just get big right at the goal line and then Tom was going to throw it low. And then we hit it in practice at Friday. Then we hit it in the game that Sunday. And since then I was starting every single play. Next up, Krunk's first

impression of Tom Brady. What's your favorite Tom memory? My favorite Tom memory, man. I always remember the time when I first met him in the locker room. You brought it up during your speech. He just came up to me. I was getting my ankle taped by Jimbo, the great Jim Wallin. Right, Jim Wallin? Waylon.

Wellin. It's been a while, Jim, man. I just called you Jimbo for so long. I'm forgetting your last name a little bit. No, you got it. All right, good. I got it, though. And he was taping my ankles, and Tom just came cruising by, you know.

I was just a good old rookie, and he just walked up to me. And he goes, hey, I'm Tom Brady. And I go, very nice to meet you, Tom Brady. I'm Rob Grankowski. And then he's like, let's get out. after it this year. And then he walked away. And I just was like, shook. I was like, man, Tom Brady just came up to me and introduced himself as Tom Brady. Like, of course, I know who you are at Tom Brady's. But that was just one of the coolest moments. I would remember, you know,

for the rest of my life. And we just, you know, got to work from there on out. And he was all business right from the beginning. He really was. Like we said, what he puts on his persona, what he shows he truly believes in and he was all business 24-7 when he was in that building what was your favorite moment too while we're at it my favorite moments were the ones who are like we'd be throwing routes or something and like he would yell at me or something like I remember my rookie year we put in a four wide personnel group the first the first day of rookie and or the first day of veteran camp and so it was me west Joey Joey Galloway and Randy

and we put it in there and I was the why and I did the right thing and I ended dropping the ball and he starts just yelling at me and I was like oh snap and then as soon as we got in the locker room

he you know he came up to me he goes hey you know if I yell at you that means I like you and I was like you you know you must really love me then You know, that was kind of like those moments where, you know, he was getting on you. That's the stuff you remember you like or, you know, the stuff when we'd be training out and throwing on a field or something.

Those are always the great memories that you'll remember. Yeah, it's the big plays of that and the other. But I think it's the behind-the-scenes stuff that was my favorite. I would have to agree with you, man. if he gets on you, he sees potential in you. And that's why he got on your your ass all the time. He got on my ass all the time, my rookie. I didn't really like him my rookie.

I mean, he was just getting on my case just nonstop. And it was kind of mind fucking me so much that I couldn't be myself out there sometimes. I couldn't run the right route because I was just thinking so much because there was just so much on the plate at first. I got a coach telling me to do this. I got Tom telling me to do this. And then finally you just figure it out and it all clicks. took me about halfway through my rookie year and then obviously going in my second year it clicked to a whole other level I mean we went for 21 touchdowns total including the playoffs but just my

rookie year he was on my case I remember I ran a flag route and I ran inside the guy instead of getting outside of him and he flipped out on me uh in the meeting after the practice and told me he's never going to throw me the ball again and like I got butter and algae crumpler saw it too and he just he just tapped on my thigh and he was like yo grunk don't don't worry about that. He's just, Tom's just being Tom, man. Just don't worry about keep doing you. And then it kind of like, you know, put a fire under your ass, though. And that's what Tom was so great at doing.

I didn't really realize that's what he was doing either. Like, he was just trying to get the best out of you. And it kind of lit a fire, you know, under my ass. And then I just wanted to prove Tom wrong. Like, all right, I'm going to run this flag route every time now. And you're never going to throw me to ball, but I'm going to be open by five yards. And you're going to look like the idiot now. And that happened. And then then he threw me the ball about 600 more times from there on out.

So that was also, that example is an example of why Tom was Tom, because he knew what kind of guy each guy was. Like, he could challenge Rob. He could challenge me because we retaliated to that challenging, like, in a whole other, like, that was the way it got us going. You know, other guys he didn't do that with, and he would do it in a different way. you know then that's that's the that's the sign of a good leader is when someone knows what to get out of the guys and how to get it out of them and i've seen this before coach balochick and tom challenging wide receivers and they don't and they don't step up to the play after the challenge and let me tell you those wide receivers or tight ends were gone the next week so hey if you don't step up to the challenge you know

You're gone. That's why I love football. That's why I love sports because there ain't no politics here, buddy. It's either you got it or you don't. Swink or swim. Swim. Swin or swim. Thanks for listening. Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode

and every Sunday for another games with names highlight. around, just go directly to the source, Lenovo.com. It's your last chance to score exclusive deals on the gaming PCs you want, like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10 gaming desktop and Lenovo Locke gaming laptop. So avoid all that shopping

chaos and price comparing, and just go directly to the source, Lenovo.com, where PCs are up to 35% off. That's Lenovo.com. I'm Stefan Curry, and this is Gentleman's I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different is me being a part of, you know, developing the profile of this beautiful finished product. With every sip, you get a little something different.

Visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com or your nearest total wines or Bevmo. This message is intended for audiences 21 and older. Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky. For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, please visit gentlemen's cut bourbon.com. Please enjoy responsibly. I know he has a reputation, but it's going to catch up to him. Gabe Ortiz is a cop His brother Larry

A mystery Gabe didn't want to solve Until it was too late He was the head of this gang You gonna push that line for the cause Took us under his wing And showed us the game As they call it When Larry's killed

Gabe must untangle the dangerous past One that could destroy everything he thought he knew Listen to the brothers Ortiz On the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Hey everybody It's Chuck and Josh from the Stuff You Should Know podcast

and it's that time of year again when we knuckle down to do our annual holiday episodes. We collected our best past classic holiday episodes and compiled them into a 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist that the whole family can enjoy. That's right. Maybe you missed it the first time we detailed the history of Beanie Babies, Monopoly,

or Yo-Yo's, and a whole lot more. So listen to the 12 Days of Christmas Toys playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Who would you call if the unthinkable happen? My sister was shot 22 times. A police officer, right? But what do you do when the monster is the man in blue?

This dude is the devil. He'll hurt you. This is the story of a detective who thought he was above the law until we came together to take him down. I said, you're going to see my face till the day that you die. Listen to the girlfriends, untouchable, on the I heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or. wherever you get your podcast.