“Gronk” Gronkowski is an American football player who is worth an estimated 45 million dollars. Gronkowski was picked by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft during his sophomore year at college, and he remained with the team until his retirement in 2018.
In his time with the New England Patriots, he won three Super Bowls and established several milestones, including the most touchdown catches by a tight end in NFL history. He has been named to the All-Pro team four times and has appeared in the Pro Bowl five times.
Gronk extended his contract with the Patriots for an extra six seasons in 2012. At the time of his extension, which was valued at $54 million, it was the richest contract ever signed between a club and a tight end in the history of the NFL.
Rob still had one year remaining on his contract when he declared his retirement, and the Patriots traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 after he announced his retirement.
Gronkowski announced his retirement in April 2020, saying, “Taking a year off was hands down the greatest decision I took, not just for my career, but also for my health and well-being.” Gronkowski has been dealing with injuries and pain throughout his career.
Additionally, outside of football, Rob has participated in several films and television productions, including “Entourage” (2015), “The Clapper” (2017), “Family Guy” (2017), and “The Masked Singer” (2020), as well as the Showtime comedy special “Unsportsmanlike Comedy with Rob Gronkowski” (2015, 2015).
Endorsements
It is estimated that Gronk earned around $60 million in pay alone throughout his NFL career. In addition to his on-field earnings, he earned tens of millions more from endorsements with brands such as Tide.
“It's Good To Be Gronk,” Rob's 2015 autobiography, claimed that he had not spent a single penny of his NFL paycheck and that he instead lived solely off the proceeds of his endorsement deals.
Additionally, Gronkowski has supported several other products and services, including Nike, Dunkin' Donuts, Visa, T-Mobile, Lyft, Cheerios, and others. Earlier this year, PLB Sports introduced a cereal named Gronk Flakes, which was followed by a hot sauce called Gronk's Hot Sauce three months later. In 2016, Monster Energy created a trademark “Gronk” flavor.
Early Life
Rob Gronkowski was born on May 14, 1989, in Amherst, New York, to Robert James Gronkowski and his wife, Lisa. The majority of his childhood was spent in Williamsville with his mother Diane and father Gordon (who was a former Syracuse University football player), as well as his four siblings who have all gone on to play professional football.
Rob's favorite sport was hockey until he was 14 years old, at which point he switched to basketball. His high school sports activities included football (tight end, defensive end, and freshman kickoff specialist), basketball (center), and baseball (first baseman).
After the family relocated to Pennsylvania, he continued to participate in football for Woodland Hills High School in the state of Pennsylvania. During his high school years, Gronkowski garnered several awards, including being selected to the All-Western New York first team, SuperPrep All-American, and Associated Press Class 4-A All-State team.
Despite being courted by several universities, Rob ultimately decided to attend the University of Arizona after graduating from high school in 2007.
College Career
Gronk attended the University of Arizona, where he majored in Pre-Business and played football for the Arizona Wildcats from 2007 to 2009. He graduated in 2009. As a rookie, he had the greatest average receiving yardage of any player on the squad, earning him recognition as a Rivals.com freshman All-American and a “The Sporting News” freshman All-American, among others.
Rob was chosen for the John Mackey National Tight End of the Week honors twice during the 2008 season, as well as to the All-Pac-10 first-team tight end and the Associated Press third-team All-American honors throughout the season. In 2009, he underwent back surgery and was forced to miss the remainder of his junior season.
Professional Career
After being selected 42nd overall in the 2010 NFL Draft, Gronk signed a four-year, $4.4 million contract with the New England Patriots, including a $1.76 million signing bonus. The Patriots won the AFC East during Rob's first season, and he was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team and nominated three times for the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week award.
This season, he set an NFL record for most touchdowns by a tight end in one season and was awarded AFC Offensive Player of the Week and NFL.com's “Hardest Working Man” by the NFL.com team.
New York Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI; Gronkowski hurt his ankle in the AFC Championship, and an MRI after the game revealed that he had strained ligaments that needed surgery.
At the end of 2012, Rob signed a six-year, $54 million contract extension. That year, he fractured his forearm against the Indianapolis Colts during a game; he then broke it again during the team's first postseason game and had to have surgery. His forearm became infected in February 2013, and he underwent surgery to remove the infection.
A few months later, he underwent a second surgery to replace the metal plate that had been inserted during the first. A two-month delay in Gronkowski's comeback from back surgery resulted in him injuring his right knee in a collision with T. J. Ward of the Cleveland Browns.
When the Patriots won the AFC East title in 2014, Rob was nominated for the Pro Bowl and made the First Team of the NFL's All-Star team. At the 2015 ESPY Awards, he was named Comeback Player of the Year for his accomplishments throughout the 2014 season.
To win Super Bowl XLIX, the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24. While Gronk was recovering from back surgery and a hamstring injury in 2016, the Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons 34–28 in Super Bowl LI.
He was on injured reserve at the time. Rob's salary was increased by $2.5 million when he was named to the Associated Press All-Pro First Team in January 2018. Patriots lost Super Bowl LII 33–41 the following month against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII 13-3 over the Los Angeles Rams, and Gronk established a Super Bowl record with 297 yards and 23 receptions, both records for a tight end. To everyone's surprise, he came out of retirement a year later to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after announcing his retirement on March 24, 2019.
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NFL Records
During his time with the Patriots, Gronk set numerous records, including the youngest player ever to have three touchdown receptions in a single game (2010), the first tight end to lead the league in receiving touchdowns (2011), and the first tight end to have 10 or more touchdown receptions in consecutive seasons (2010–2012).
On top of that, Rob has set records for the most catches by a tight end in a Super Bowl (23), the most receiving yards by a tight end in a Super Bowl (297), the most career playoff touchdowns by a tight end (12), and the first tight end with 1,000+ career postseason receiving yards.
Personal Life
In 2015, Rob began seeing model Camille Kostek, with whom he has been dating ever then. After receiving 1,600 masks from the Foxboro Fire Department to aid first responders in a Coronavirus outbreak, the couple made national headlines in May 2020.
This year, Gronkowski and Kostek participated in Kygo's “I'll Wait” music video; they've previously starred together and separately in the music videos of Katy Perry and 3LAU (“On My Mind”).
Real Estate
For $1.9 million in 2016, Gronk paid for a 2,100-square-foot Boston apartment, and he sold it in 2019 for $2.3 million. Rob has been the proud owner of two houses on 1.5 acres in Foxborough, Massachusetts, since 2014.
The custom-built 5-bedroom house is 4,486 square feet, while the other house is 4,466 square feet. He paid $1.7 million for a five-bedroom apartment in Miami in 2019.
