NFL legend Rob Gronkowski has revealed the NFL rule change that he and Tom Brady would both like to see introduced.
Gronkowski and Brady were long-time teammates at the New England Patriots. Then, in 2020, the pair both made the switch to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where they would win a Super Bowl in their first season in Florida.
Over the course of their careers, Gronkowski and Brady have won four Super Bowls together across their stints with the Patriots and the Bucs. And Gronkowski has cited an injury as suffered as the reason he is behind a rule change involving tackles and receivers in the NFL.
Gronkowski suffered an anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament injury to his right knee during a Patriots win over the Cleveland Browns in December 2013. The tight end believes receivers should get more protection from the NFL with the way they are tackled - and says that Brady was also an advocate of the rule change behind the scenes when they were teammates.
“Tom Brady actually brought this up plenty of times, it’s to protect the receivers and to protect the tight ends,” Gronkowski told the Up & Adams Show.
“Because a lot of guys out there, offensive and defensive linemen, quarterbacks, they’re all protected from their knees down. You can’t blindside anyone when they’re unprotected or when they’re defenceless - a defenceless receiver is the only player that’s not protected from the knees down.
“Linemen are, running backs and quarterbacks are, all of those players are protected in that situation.
“But a defencesless receiver when looking at the quarterback to make the catch, a linebacker or cornerback can still take out your knees even when you’re not looking. So that’s a defenceless receiver.
“Therefore, that needs to be implemented as a new rule change, to where you cannot take out a defencesless receiver’s knees from their knees down.
“Yes, you can hit them from the quads to the shoulders. But if they’re not looking and they’re still getting drilled from their knee down then that’s very dangerous for the game.
“You see a lot of people; Chris Godwin blew out his knee a couple of years ago vs the New Orleans Saints. I blew out my knee eight years ago against the Cleveland Browns from it.
“You see a lot of these defenceless receivers blow out their knees because of that rule, because they’re not looking and they get absolutely demolished from the knees down. Yes, if they’re looking at the player after they made the catch and made a step or two, yes you can hit them below the knee, but not when they’re not looking and not when they’re defenceless.
“That rule should change from where you cannot take them out from below their knees.”
Gronkowski officially retired from the NFL in the summer of 2022 after more than 10 years in the league. He was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 and would spend nine seasons in New England before leaving in 2018 with three Super Bowl rings to his name.
