Rob Gronkowski interview: Gronk on if Tom Brady will retire, Super Bowl predictions, and more

Gronk also told us how he wore his Nickelodeon Elf costume to surprise kids at Shriners Children’s Hospital in New England.

If you watched the Christmas Day game between the LA Rams and Denver Broncos on Nickelodeon instead of CBS, you may have noticed a very familiar looking elf pop up to explain some of the NFL rules to younger viewers. Yep, that was Rob Gronkowski in a 6-foot-6 elf costume hanging out with Spongebob’s Patrick Star.

We caught up with Gronk this week to find out how his latest gig as a Christmas elf came about!

“I hosted the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards this year, and they liked what they saw with the host,” Gronk told us. “Now they host the football game every year on Christmas Day on Nickelodeon and CBS Sports, and they have all these special animated effects with the slime going all over the place every a score, touchdown, etc. So they hit me up and asked if I could do a little shoot on the green screen … it was just describing the game a little bit and explaining what each penalty means.”

The commentary was filmed in advance and Gronk actually watched the game like so many people in the northeast — snowed in at his dad’s house in Buffalo, New York, with his childhood best friend. “I’ve never seen a snowstorm like that in my life! I was stuck inside the house I grew up in for three days. We couldn’t even leave. It was a great time, though. We worked out a lot. We played a lot of cards and watched lots of movies and football.”

Before the epic Buffalo blizzard set in, Gronk was able to put his giant-sized elf costume to good use when he visited the Shriners Children’s Hospital to give the kids a special holiday treat.

“I was actually going to buy a Santa costume because I knew I was going to the Shriners Children’s New England in Springfield, Massachusetts, to surprise the kids. But then Nickelodeon showed up to the shoot with the elf costume that fit perfectly! I canceled getting a Santa costume and it just saved me a lot of time and hassle, it all just worked out very well,” Gronk explained. “That was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a children’s hospital. I was just hanging out in a playroom and they brought the kids down one by one, and I got to spend about 15 to 20 minutes with each kid. They were just so enthusiastic and so excited, and brought so much joy to the table.

“Also, I went out there and bought some gifts for them — I got two pairs of shoes and an Ice Shaker, which was really cool because my brother Chris specially-made one for the holidays, with snowflakes all over them. The kids had such a good time, and I had a great time because I love doing activities. We played pop-a-shot basketball, soccer, air hockey, all that good stuff. It was a blast.”

Image courtesy of Rob Gronkowski

Next year, Santa Gronk will be opening up Gronk Park in Boston by the Charles River, for all New England kids to play in. “It’s going to be a fantastic playground that has a lot to do with sports to get kids active.” That sounds like Gronk Beach for kids … “A little bit, but not as crazy though! There’s gonna be a dodgeball, slides going off the duck boat, it’s going to be a playground for kids just to go HAM, have a blast, bring their friends, and have the parents sit down with their dogs and watch their kid get all their energy out.”

Of course, we couldn’t talk to the future Hall of Fame tight end without picking his brain about what he thinks of the 2022 NFL season so far, his predictions for Super Bowl LVII, and of course, his old friends Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. To listen to more of our chat with Gronk, check out the latest episode of The SB Nation NFL Show podcast.

SB Nation: Who do you think is the best tight end in the league now that you’re not playing?
Rob Gronkowski: I mean, obviously Travis Kelce, the guy’s putting up numbers that are just spectacular year in and year out … every single week, game in and game out. He’s a special talent and what’s so impressive about him is how he just manages to get better every single year.

I feel like this season has just been full of upheavals, what has most surprised you?
Yeah, it’s up and down … what’s so great about football is that you just don’t know who’s gonna win every single week. I mean, every game is up for grabs, and you just don’t know which team’s gonna be good and which is not going to be good. There’s always a surprise team that’s supposed to be really terrible and they’re doing excellent. And then there’s always a team that’s supposed to be really, really good and they just do absolutely terrible. That’s what is so great about the game is that it’s just such an even sport, it’s level on all playing fields for every team. That’s what makes the game so great and that’s why you just don’t know who’s going to win on any given Sunday.

One team that surprised me though, especially with their rookie quarterback, is the San Francisco 49ers. I mean, that Brock Purdy guy was the last pick of the NFL Draft this year. It’s just pretty impressive how he has stepped in and is leading them to victories every week.

Could you even imagine that Mr. Irrelevant could be like heading to the Super Bowl?
It would be one of the wildest stories of all time, especially for Mr. Irrelevant, and it’s just so relevant that he was irrelevant. And now he’s so relevant!

Do you think you can do it?
He’s got a really good team around him, they’ve got a great defense, the number one in the league. So if he just manages the game and doesn’t make mistakes, I think they definitely have a very good chance of making it all the way.

I bumped into your old boss, Robert Kraft, a few weeks ago, and he was saying great things about you – he said he’d never seen Rob Gronkowski have a bad day!
He wasn’t around every single day then! I miss Mr. Kraft. He does a great job over there with the Patriots. He’s so involved with the team. You know, sometimes the owners aren’t even around but he’s always involved. And he’s definitely shown me the way on giving back to the community. That’s one great thing he does, he gives back to the community and is very charitable. It has definitely worn off onto me, you know, to give back whenever you possibly can, whenever you have the chance to do it, especially during the holidays.

I know this has been asked to death, but do you think Tom Brady’s gonna come back next year? There are even rumors that he might even go back to the Patriots, which seems unlikely …
Yeah, I mean, that’s getting a little crazy, for sure! There’s rumors always going around. They’re just saying he’s going to the Niners back home, and he’s going back to the Patriots, he may stay with Tampa Bay. So you know, everyone’s just hitting every possible situation so that someone can finally say they’re right at the end. But overall, I think he can definitely play if he wants to. You don’t really see him falling off at all. He’s top five in the league in passing yards. So that’s just incredible at age 45. The zip on his ball is still there. It’s still very powerful. He’s reaching his targets with every single throw. So, you see no fall off at all. I don’t expect the fall off at all, I can see him going through to age 50 if he wanted to, but that’s up to him. But I definitely see him playing next year.

I think 50 is a really good goal.
It’s a really good goal. I mean, if you haven’t defined any expectations, yet, I think he needs to go to 50 years old!

As for the Patriots, do you think Bill Belichick is getting more grief and heat than he should do?
I mean, he’s always doing a great job, he’s definitely one of the best coaches of all time, if not the best coach of all time. But you’ve gotta win in this league. It’s either you eventually win or you’re gonna get canned, and that’s the same with a player — if you’re not doing well, if you’re not producing, you’re gonna get canned. That’s how the NFL works … so either win, eventually win, or prove you’re on the way to winning again or you’re going to get booted. But I think he’s pretty stable for a little bit longer, for sure.

We’ve got the Super Bowl coming in Arizona, the last time it was there you won with the Patriots, do you have any hot predictions for who’s going to be there this year?
Yeah, I’m gonna go with my hometown Buffalo Bills, because I’m from Buffalo, you know, and I’m not playing anymore. So I can be a Bills fan once again. And then I’ll go with who I was talking about before — the San Francisco 49ers. Their defense is just unreal. They are number one in basically every single category and they got that Nick Bosa guy coming up who is just getting to the quarterback and just demolishing them.