The NFL Draft combine is underway at Lucas Oil Stadium, as prospects are getting measured, timed and tested in hopes of boosting their NFL stock. One of those players is Glenn Gronkowski, brother of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, and he says he’s been asked “at least 50 times” about his brother’s recent party cruise.
“The whole Gronk Cruise thing, I’ve gotten a lot of that,” Glenn said when asked about the types of questions he has fielded from teams. “I’ve had to put up a lot with that this week.”
The youngest Gronk bro was a fullback at Kansas State University and is ranked number one at his position in the entire draft by CBS Sports. Glenn admitted it would be an honor to play with his brother in the NFL but said he’s not the same type of wild personality.
“He’s crazy, obviously,” Glenn said of Rob. “He loves to have fun. But, yeah, I’m not as much fun as him. That’s kind of hard to be. It definitely comes with the family, though.”
Glenn reiterated he’s not going to be a problem off the field for any team which decides to draft him.
“I’m 100 percent committed,” he said. “I’ve never been in trouble with the law. I’m not doing anything dumb, I’m not getting in trouble. Shouldn’t be any problems at all.”
Glenn isn’t a slouch as a prospect and clearly wants to establish his own identity in the NFL and not be known in the same vein as his party-loving brother, and I can’t blame him for that.
Appreciate the artist and DJ's for coming on and making this the most turnt up event ever. pic.twitter.com/NxwYLEu9mR
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) February 23, 2016
It would be frustrating to go to the combine, one of the biggest days of your career, and have to answer constant questions about your brother’s party cruise. Good thing is, Glenn seems to be handling it like a pro. And yet, Gronk isn’t the only prospect being asked some odd questions this year.
Strangest interview question I've heard a NFL team ask a prospect so far: Do you find your mother attractive? #NFLCombine
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) February 25, 2016
Remember, the point of the question and answer session with players is to get a sense of who they are, and see if the person off the field matches with the player on the field. Sure, “where do you want to be in five years” is a fine question, but if teams really want to learn about a person, putting them in stressful situations can be highly beneficial. Now, sometimes team executives go overboard with that line of questioning, but asking players weird questions to see how they respond is just as or more important than asking them questions they actually care about the answer to.
Asking a player if his mom is hot is weird, sure, but gauging the reaction to that question is clearly more important than whatever the answer actually is. Unless the GM is just lonely. Winters do get cold in Indianapolis.
He probably should have gone on the Gronk cruise.
[NFL.com]
