Quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski may have forged most of their Hall-of-Fame legacy with the New England Patriots, but they’ll never be forgotten by Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans — and it doesn’t seem like Brady and Gronkowski will forget their time in Tampa Bay, either.
The two recently appeared together on Brady’s “Let’s Go!” podcast, and both of them reminisced on their brief stint with the Bucs. Both had a lot of kind things to say about the city of Tampa Bay, the organization and the teammates they played with while both were with the Bucs.
Brady spoke on his free agency choice, talking about choosing the Bucs and playing with Gronkowski in red and pewter.
“I got a chance to really look around and say, what locker room do I wanna join,” Brady said. “And when I chose Tampa, you know, I didn’t know that Robbie G was gonna come out of retirement. Of course, I was hopeful, but there was no certainty about it. He was retired for a year and then I called him and he’s like, ‘Tampa, huh?’ And we went down there and we had so much fun.”
Brady also spoke about the organization and the fans in Tampa Bay, stressing how important it was to him that he was accepted by the team, his teammates and Bucs fans.
“I think to be accepted by that organization really meant the world to me, too,” Brady said. “Obviously, I was accepted so much by the Patriots fans and the team and the organization and then when I left there to go to another place and see the way that we were welcome was awesome. And the only thing I wanted to do was give back to them.”
Gronkowski reminisced as well. He spoke about how exciting it was to be a part of a new organization and mentioned that while he loved his years in New England, there was a lot to appreciate about his time in Tampa Bay and winning a championship with the Buccaneers.
“In my time of my time, just going down in Tampa, I think it was a perfect fit for myself where I was in my career, what age I was in my career, the location as well in Tampa with my mom being down the street in Fort Myers,” Gronkowski said. “I love the sun, love the beaches as well. And just overall going down there and winning, too. I just feel like it solidified, you know, especially winning a championship, winning a Super Bowl solidified my happiness that I was, what’s the word, like content with my career, happy with my career.”
Brady echoed Gronkowski’s sentiments on winning a championship, saying that he was happy they were able to bring the city and the organization a Super Bowl win after everything they had given to them.
“I thought we rewarded that organization with a championship through a lot of hard work by our teammates,” Brady said. “And we celebrated like no other. That boat parade will go down in history as one of the great parades of all time.”
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