Rob Gronkowski tricked theTampa Bay Buccaneers into believing he completed his off-season workouts.- The tight end told reporters he would switch shirts to make it look like a different day.
Rob Gronkowski pulled a fast one on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The superstar tight end was asked to complete a series of off-season workouts before reporting to training camp for the 2021 season. But when it came time to do sprints, Gronk was not exactly interested.
So he improvised.
"Oh man, I tricked 'em," Gronkowski said during a recent media availability, per The Checkdown.
"I tricked 'em a few times," he added with a smile.
Rather than running daily sprints and filming part of each individual session as the team requested, the five-time Pro Bowler completed a single set of sprints on one day, changing his shirt "like 15 times" to make it appear as though he'd completed the runs on separate days.
"So then, when the next time came, I didn't have to film myself," Gronk explained. "Because I already filmed myself running in a different shirt every time on that one day."
Gronk's ingenuity didn't seem to impact his performance during the season. He recorded 802 receiving yards on 89 targets this year — marking his best output since his 2017 Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro season with the New England Patriots.
It's unclear whether Gronkowski will stick around in Tampa Bay now that legendary quarterback Tom Brady has announced his retirement. But if he does, rest assured that he'll still be up to his usual hijinks.
"[The team] hasn't had a clue to this day that I was tricking [them] about half the time," Gronk said with a smirk.
—The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) February 1, 2021