Tom Brady Reflects on Rob Gronkowski’s Patriots Legacy as New England Retools Around Drake Maye
Tom Brady spent an hour with Travis and Jason Kelce on the “New Heights” podcast this week, and Rob Gronkowski’s name kept coming up. Brady broke into an impression of his old tight end and dug into a story that Patriots fans have heard pieces of for years: what made Gronkowski so hard to game-plan against, on and off the field.
The appearance, which posted Wednesday, doubled as a reminder of what New England is chasing as it retools around quarterback Drake Maye. The Patriots reached Super Bowl LX last season before falling to the Seattle Seahawks 29-13. Now they’re spending the offseason trying to give Maye something closer to what Brady had with Gronkowski: a receiver who forces a defense to bend.
Brady breaks down what made Gronkowski different
Brady didn’t lead with catches or touchdowns. He led with blocking. “Gronk was really unique, you know, I think Gronk was the greatest blocking tight end in history,” Brady said on the podcast. “Gronk could handle defensive ends.”
That’s not a small claim from a seven-time Super Bowl champion who also had Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski’s own Hall of Fame receiving numbers to draw comparisons from. Brady’s point was about leverage. When New England lined Gronkowski up next to the tackle, defenses had to treat him like a genuine run blocker, not just a big body who might release into a route. That changed the math on every snap.
“When we didn’t have Gronk, I — as a quarterback — for the first time in my career realized like ‘Oh, like we lose those matchups all of the time,'” Brady said. “Not only is that not neutral, it’s a loss, so now everything is to the open side, or you’re flashing the tight end back all of the time.”
Jason Kelce backed up the point with a story from his own playing days in Philadelphia. He said former Eagles teammate Connor Barwin made a nearly identical observation about Gronkowski years earlier, describing him as the rare tight end who could physically dominate a pass rusher instead of just occupying him.
Gronkowski’s blocking got the spotlight this time, but his receiving résumé did most of the heavy lifting during his career. He caught 521 passes for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns in the regular season with New England, then added another 81 catches, 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in the postseason. Patriots fans voted him into the team’s Hall of Fame, with the induction officially announced in April.
Why the Patriots are still chasing that connection
None of that history changes what New England actually needs right now: a No. 1 target Maye can trust in the moments that decide games. Stefon Diggs had that role for stretches last season, but the Patriots released him in free agency. Replacing him became the defining project of their offseason.
Tom Brady shares his favorite Rob Gronkowski story. 😭
🎥: @newheightshow pic.twitter.com/NNCnUb8d0D
— Savage (@Savageboston) July 8, 2026
It started with a smaller move. New England signed Romeo Doubs, a four-year separator who spent his first four NFL seasons in Green Bay, giving Maye an established route-runner to build around during OTAs and minicamp.
The bigger swing came on June 1, when the Patriots officially acquired A.J. Brown from the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder. Brown, who turns 29 this month, has topped 1,000 receiving yards in six of his seven NFL seasons and reunites in New England with head coach Mike Vrabel, who originally drafted him in Tennessee back in 2019. He’s expected to open the season as the Patriots’ No. 1 receiver.
Brown’s fit matters beyond raw talent. In offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’s scheme, he projects to move around the formation rather than stay fixed on the outside the way he often did in Philadelphia, which could open up more room for Doubs and the rest of the receiving corps underneath.
| Player | 2025 stats | Role with Patriots |
|---|---|---|
| A.J. Brown | 78 catches, 1,003 yards, 7 TDs | Projected No. 1 receiver |
| Romeo Doubs | 4 NFL seasons in Green Bay | Complementary starter |
| Stefon Diggs | Released by New England | No longer on roster |
Maye’s rise raises the stakes
New England is investing in weapons because Maye has already shown what he can do without elite ones. The second-year quarterback finished second in the closest MVP race since 2003, losing to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford by a single first-place vote — 366 points to 361. Maye led the NFL in completion percentage at 72 percent and posted 8.9 yards per attempt while throwing for 4,394 yards and 35 total touchdowns.
Whether he can close that gap in 2026 may come down to whether Brown and Doubs give him the answers Brady once had in Gronkowski: players who change what a defense is willing to do before the snap even happens.
What’s next
The comparisons will only intensify once the season starts. New England opens on the road against Seattle on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at Lumen Field, a Super Bowl LX rematch and just the third time in NFL history that the previous season’s Super Bowl teams have met in the Week 1 opener. The Seahawks will unveil their championship banner before kickoff.
Brady, for his part, will be watching from a different chair these days — he’s set to call a Patriots game from the FOX booth later this season, his first time doing so at Gillette Stadium. But on this week’s podcast, at least for an hour, he was back to talking ball the way he always has: through the lens of the guy who used to line up next to him.