There’s an old saying that goes “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.”
Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski certainly made quite the impression during his pre-draft visit with offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien in 2010.
New England was his last stop on his pre-draft visit tour, and between sickness and exhaustion, he fell asleep during the visit. He elaborated on it on Julian Edelman’s “Games With Names” podcast earlier this week.
“I go into the interview session and Billy O’Brien draws a play up and then he erases it on the board and he’s like, ‘Alright, can you name what the wide receivers did?’ Like re-name their route and what their responsibility was. I was like, bro I have no clue,” said Gronkowski, via WEEI’s Mike Kadlick. “I couldn’t even think. And then he’s like, ‘What do you do?’ I was like, ‘You just throw me the [expletive] ball Billy O, I’ll make some guys miss, I’ll run over some people.’
“He’s like, ‘But you don’t know the play,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t need to know the play just throw me the ball.’ Like that’s basically how our interview went.”
The tight end ended up being selected in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the draft.
When all was said and done, the pre-draft visit did not affect his draft stock at all since he ended up going to the Patriots. It certainly made for a memorable experience, as Gronkowski mentioned on the podcast.
Gronkowski would end up becoming one of the best tight ends in the history of the NFL and play an integral role in the second half of New England’s near 20-year dynasty.
