Devin McCourty Reveals How Rob Gronkowski Has Changed Over Patriots Career

Devin McCourty knows pretty much everything about tight end Rob Gronkowski because he has been watching his performance from a front-row seat.

When asked how he has seen Gronk’s approach change over the past nine seasons, McCourty shared a few details.

“I think he has this persona of this party animal that’s always out partying. But if you see him — like, when he was young, he was always in the weight room, always lifting the heaviest weights. He was a big meathead. So he’ll probably say he does less meathead things and more functional movement and things like that,” the safety said.

He made a point here. Rob Gronkowski started training with Alex Guerrero. Brady’s body coach is all about the benefits of pliability, and his principles do not really rely on traditional weight training.

McCourty said that Gronk still has his fun-loving attitude.

“He’s still laughing, joking, he’s still a kid, and I think that’s good. I think it’s good for the team to have guys like that in the locker room. Sometimes around here, things are hard. We practice hard, and it’s hard days. Bill (Belichick)’s not laughing often, so having guys like that helps in the locker room.”

The tight end talked about his season. “It’s a long season. You’ve got training camp, all of the regular season. You’ve got the preseason games. You’ve got all of that, so you’ve got to keep it light. You’ve got to enjoy your time and no matter how games go, up or down, you’ve just got to keep focused and keep it going, which we have been,” he said.

McCourty is amazed with Gronk’s toughness, work ethic, leadership and preparation.

“No matter what it was — forearm, knee — he’s always been in here grinding. I would say going through injury, if you needed someone to watch on how they prepare each day in practice — whether he’s on the side doing different exercises — he’s always doing something to try to get his body ready to practice and for the game,” McCourty said.

“I think he’s been a guy to watch and see what he does. He never complains about something hurting or not being able to do (something.) He just does what he can do, and when he’s coming back from an injury, usually it’s a little more each day.

“Obviously, you guys see he’s been one of the best tight ends since he entered the league. I think his leadership and how hard he works has stuck out more to guys in the locker room than I think people outside the building talk about.”