Julian Edelman dismisses Rob Gronkowski ‘party animal’ story

Was Rob Gronkowski really a party animal during his playing days? One of his former teammates says that he was. Julian Edelman disagrees.

A recent story from Jake Bequette, a teammate of Gronk’s with the New England Patriots from 2012-2015, recently shared a story that portrayed Gronkowski as a party animal.

Bequette detailed that in the offseason, Gronkowski would have all-nighters in Boston and have his friends drop him off at the team’s facility. He’d then go into the trainer’s rooms and fall asleep on one of the training tables. And then when it came time to step on the field, he looked no worse for wear.

That story largely backs up the image that Gronk has had throughout his entire career as one who never said no to a good party.

Edelman, who played with the Patriots from 2009-2020 (covering Gronkowski’s entire tenure in New England), shot the story down.

“Story is BS,” Edelman tweeted on Saturday night. “Everyone wants to paint Gronk as a party animal. When in reality he was one of the most dedicated teammates I had.”

Story is BS. Everyone wants to paint Gronk as a party animal. When in reality he was one of the most dedicated teammates I had. https://t.co/mQecYSd4bW

— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) June 25, 2023

To be fair, Bequette’s story details what Gronkowski was like in the offseason. It’s possible that Gronkowski was doing this during the offseason and even into training camp but stopped once the season began.

Whatever Gronkowski did in his career, it worked. Not only is he arguably the greatest tight end of all time, but he’s one of the greatest players in the history of the NFL.

[Julian Edelman]