2018 Gronk Watch

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PC Drunken Friar

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My gut tells me that he has 1 more year left then he hangs it up as the best TE in NFL history. And I'm OK with it, given how much enjoyment I have had with the Pats.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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I love Gronk, but does anyone honestly think he has an acting career ahead of him that doesn’t basically equate to OJ in Naked Gun? And going into WWE doesn’t exactly negate the physical concerns, despite how scripted it is.

I’m sure he’s tired of being hurt, but I’m putting my money on he was frustrated after a tough loss and expressed it. I’m sure the thought has crossed his mind, but this is his life.

I’m hoping for a BB/TB/Gronk joint retirement announcement in like three years and then donning yellow jackets on the same day, but I know that’s a pipe dream.
 

Hoya81

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I wouldn’t discount the Hollywood thing. I could see Gronk having a Terry Crews type career playing tough guy comic relief.
 
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CantKeepmedown

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I don't know. I guess if he put a lot of work into it, maybe he could improve. But as of now, no way. Even in commercials/videos he's just awkward. As a wrestler, sure, he could get in the ring, run around, and do some athletic stuff (as we saw at one of the PPV's a couple years ago). But he couldn't cut a promo to save his life.

I'm in agreement with others that maybe we are lucky enough to get one or two more years out of him. But I don't think he's a shoe in to just stroll right into wrestling or acting.
 

Al Zarilla

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I don't know. I guess if he put a lot of work into it, maybe he could improve. But as of now, no way. Even in commercials/videos he's just awkward. As a wrestler, sure, he could get in the ring, run around, and do some athletic stuff (as we saw at one of the PPV's a couple years ago). But he couldn't cut a promo to save his life.

I'm in agreement with others that maybe we are lucky enough to get one or two more years out of him. But I don't think he's a shoe in to just stroll right into wrestling or acting.
I was thinking about that (Gronk as an actor). So, how talented are/were Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown or Johnny Weissmuller? If a guy is “bigger than life”, sometimes they, Hollywood, can make it work. Still, no idea with Gronk. As far as forgetting his lines for example, he seems to be able to handle his assignments on all plays just fine. I hope he gives us another year or two though.
 

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I wouldn’t discount the Hollywood thing. I could see Gronk having a Terry Crews type career playing tough guy comic relief.
Terry Crews has a net worth of less than Gronk makes in a season, even ignoring endorsements. I'm not sure Gronk is going to be happy doing Old Spice commercials for the rest of his life.

I was thinking about that (Gronk as an actor). So, how talented are/were Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown or Johnny Weissmuller? If a guy is “bigger than life”, sometimes they, Hollywood, can make it work. Still, no idea with Gronk. As far as forgetting his lines for example, he seems to be able to handle his assignments on all plays just fine. I hope he gives us another year or two though.
I don't see Gronk ever being able to pull off bad ass tough guy like the first three you list. He's got the physique but he's too goofy. Stallone wrote his ticket with Rocky; Arnold played up to the cold Austrian/German muscle man; The Rock has always had a charisma that can't even be approached by most actors, let alone Gronk. Jim Brown, other than a lot of bit parts, what has he done? Honest question, was he ever a lead? I'm far too young to know anything about Weissmuller, I've never seen old Tarzan stuff.

Like I said, I love the guy, but he can barely pull off a DD commercial. He could be an OJ type or even a Terry Crews, I just don't think that's compelling him to retire. If he does, it's because of his health, not to go act. That might still end up where he goes, but I don't think it's his motivation.
 

Bleedred

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I agree with everyone that Gronk doesn't have the chops to cut it as an actor (and frankly, he is awkward in every commercial that I've ever seen him in). The bigger question for me is whether or not he thinks he can pull that off, and how convincing those that are whispering in his ear about it have been?
 

Hoya81

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Brown had a fairly decent run in the decade following the Dirty Dozen and starred in over a dozen movies, mostly action/blaxploitation stuff.

Hollywood is a such a weird and random business that it’s not a stretch for someone to thrive despite having no background or training in acting.
 

Bergs

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I was thinking about that (Gronk as an actor). So, how talented are/were Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown or Johnny Weissmuller? If a guy is “bigger than life”, sometimes they, Hollywood, can make it work. Still, no idea with Gronk. As far as forgetting his lines for example, he seems to be able to handle his assignments on all plays just fine. I hope he gives us another year or two though.
One of these is not like the other. Stallone was a very good actor when he wanted to be. Gronk could train for 100 years and not pull off what Sly did in the best scenes of Rocky and First Blood.
 

BigSoxFan

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The question for me is how much of Gronk’s fame is tied to Brady/Belichick and the Patriots’ success? If Gronk were putting up all-pro numbers in Kansas City or something, how popular would be be? Will people care about him in 5 years when Brady is gone and the Pats are a .500 football team? Hard to say.

I don’t see him ever having the ability to do much more than Entourage style cameos (and he was pretty bad in the movie) but I probably shouldn’t doubt the guy.
 

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Gronk has an engaging personality, an out-of-the-ordinary body frame and an easily-branded nickname. The Patriots connection has helped him gain national recognition, sure; but he won't need it transitioning to films, if that's what he wants to do
 

BigSoxFan

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Gronk has an engaging personality, an out-of-the-ordinary body frame and an easily-branded nickname. The Patriots connection has helped him gain national recognition, sure; but he won't need it transitioning to films, if that's what he wants to do
I think John Cena could be a decent blueprint. He’s done some cheap action movies and held his own in that Amy Schumer movie. He obviously won’t approach what The Rock, Arnold, etc. pulled off but not sure if that’s his goal anyways.
 

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There is precedent for guys still producing at a high level walking away from crappy teams. Like Megatron and Barry Sanders, etc. But do we have a comp for Gronk? A future HOF'r, pretty much as effective as ever, walking away from a Super Bowl caliber team? I can't think of anyone that fits.

Note: If this was covered up thread and I haven't done the leg work, just point me in that direction.
 

Spelunker

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I think John Cena could be a decent blueprint. He’s done some cheap action movies and held his own in that Amy Schumer movie. He obviously won’t approach what The Rock, Arnold, etc. pulled off but not sure if that’s his goal anyways.
Cena is much more intelligent and charismatic (as is Crews). He can actually act and sell a joke.

I love Gronk, but he's terrible on camera. The laughs are basically *at* him, not from him. Basically every person listed here is a much better actor than Gronk. Brady is a better actor than Gronk. The only thing he could possibly do is reality TV or wrestling, and he's kinda already doing the former (and it's bad).

I don't doubt he'll try (again, he's currently doing it) but it won't go very well.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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There is precedent for guys still producing at a high level walking away from crappy teams. Like Megatron and Barry Sanders, etc. But do we have a comp for Gronk? A future HOF'r, pretty much as effective as ever, walking away from a Super Bowl caliber team? I can't think of anyone that fits.

Note: If this was covered up thread and I haven't done the leg work, just point me in that direction.
Robert Smith with the Vikings. 2 NFC championships in 3 years. 3 years in a row with playoff victories. He had 4 straight 1,000 yard seasons, including finishing 2nd in the NFL with over 1,500 yards in 2000, and then he retired.
 

joe dokes

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There is precedent for guys still producing at a high level walking away from crappy teams. Like Megatron and Barry Sanders, etc. But do we have a comp for Gronk? A future HOF'r, pretty much as effective as ever, walking away from a Super Bowl caliber team? I can't think of anyone that fits.

Note: If this was covered up thread and I haven't done the leg work, just point me in that direction.
Jim Brown (1500yds/over 5 ypc) walked away from 2 straight division winners.
 

BigSoxFan

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Cena is much more intelligent and charismatic (as is Crews). He can actually act and sell a joke.

I love Gronk, but he's terrible on camera. The laughs are basically *at* him, not from him. Basically every person listed here is a much better actor than Gronk. Brady is a better actor than Gronk. The only thing he could possibly do is reality TV or wrestling, and he's kinda already doing the former (and it's bad).

I don't doubt he'll try (again, he's currently doing it) but it won't go very well.
Gronk clearly isn’t a comedy savant but possible he could play a minor role in an action movie. I’m really not bullish on his acting career but he seems to have been laying the groundwork for it for a while and has received some encouragement from people in the industry although who knows what they actually think of him. He definitely is going to need a shit ton of practice/coaching to reach any sustained success and I’m not sure he’ll ever get there.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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Not counting Brown because of the low salaries back then. But Robert Smith is one I thought of, just didn't realize the Vikings were that good while he was there.

My point is I think an athlete on a losing team doesn't have as much loyalty to the team goals as a player like Gronk would. So calling it quits when you're on a winning team probably comes with a different level of analysis. Hanging it up when you're going to be 6-10 probably is a bit easier.
 

timelysarcasm

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I wouldn’t discount the Hollywood thing. I could see Gronk having a Terry Crews type career playing tough guy comic relief.
No offense to Gronk, but Terry Crews is a pretty talented actor. Gronk would have to dedicate himself to acting lessons for awhile before he could approach that level. Just because they're both big muscle-y types doesn't mean they're the same. Far from it. Yes, Terry Crews is typically cast as a certain type, but that's because Hollywood is generally unimaginative, not because he's not a good actor.

I was thinking about that (Gronk as an actor). So, how talented are/were Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown or Johnny Weissmuller? If a guy is “bigger than life”, sometimes they, Hollywood, can make it work. Still, no idea with Gronk. As far as forgetting his lines for example, he seems to be able to handle his assignments on all plays just fine. I hope he gives us another year or two though.
Can't speak to all of those guys, but having worked in Hollywood for some time and been around Terry Crews and have had friends who have or are working with Dwayne Johnson - they are very talented actors. As I said, Gronk would have some serious work to do. He gets by on his goof and his size in everything I've ever seen him in. His show on Nickelodeon is pretty rough and that's literally him playing himself riffing on videos. Without some serious time training as an actor he'd be limited to playing himself in crappy cameos. Which he might be fine with, but I wouldn't consider it acting in the traditional sense.

I will miss him terribly as a Patriot, but I hope he does what will make him happy on this. I can't imagine what his body goes through playing football.
 

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Terry Crews is one of the many great things about Brooklyn 99. Did a good interview with Tim Ferris recently as well. Seems to just be a very talented artist in general.
 

j-man

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on the 1 hand i wish he wouild play 2 more years as he is one of the only pats i like 100% but i dont want him as a veggie 30 years from now google ricky dixon 88 ciny beng
 

The Needler

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Not counting Brown because of the low salaries back then.
He certainly didn't make the kind of money athletes make today, but Jim Brown's salary was $60,000+ in 1965. The median family income that year was $6,882, and income of $25,000 put you into the top 1.5% of households. Walking away from the final year of his contract could not have been an easy decision.
 

hawaiirsn

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Terry Crews is one of the many great things about Brooklyn 99. Did a good interview with Tim Ferris recently as well. Seems to just be a very talented artist in general.
Not to derail any more, but Crews also did an interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn and he just seems like a great dude. Intelligent and talented for sure, but also totally willing to talk and laugh about the not-so artistic movies he's been in. Highly recommend giving it a listen.
 

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One of these is not like the other. Stallone was a very good actor when he wanted to be. Gronk could train for 100 years and not pull off what Sly did in the best scenes of Rocky and First Blood.
Stallone fucking WROTE Rocky.

And The Rock is third generations pro wrestling and Cena went to pro wrestling college in like the ‘90s.

People keep naming talented, experienced, trained actors as comps. It’s weird.

I guess maybe done people don’t take it seriously that the big dudes are actually pros too?
 

BigSoxFan

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Stallone fucking WROTE Rocky.

And The Rock is third generations pro wrestling and Cena went to pro wrestling college in like the ‘90s.

People keep naming talented, experienced, trained actors as comps. It’s weird.

I guess maybe done people don’t take it seriously that the big dudes are actually pros too?
Well, I, for one, think wrestling is dumb and don’t take it seriously as a form of acting but even I acknowledge that The Rock is supremely talented (and I’m a huge fan of his movies). With that said, there is a HUGE gap between the Rock’s acting chops and John Cena’s. I threw out Cena not as a comparison of Gronk right now but as a potential target if he really dedicated himself to it. Gronk will never even remotely reach the level that The Rock, Stallone, Arnold, etc. reached but Cena level may be attainable with a lot of work and the right coaching.

Right now, Gronk is stiff as shit on the screen and I don’t really think he has it in him since I don’t see the natural ability that the aforementioned guys have. But it’s tough to make a call on this since we don’t really know how determined Gronk is to be in Hollywood. We know he probably fancies the idea but it’ll take several years for him to get any traction, if ever.

If I were his agent, I’d be steering him to all those C list celebrity reality shows where he can basically be a giant goofball and show off his athletic abilities. I think that’s his best chance of finding something in LA. The Rock is so gifted that when I watch him, I don’t ever think of his wrestling career. With Gronk, I think it’d be tough to ever think of him as anything more than Gronk - ex NFL player. Michael Strahan is another guy who pulled it off but he, too, has natural charisma that Gronk lacks.

As a Patriots fan, I hope we get a couple more years out of him but I certainly wouldn’t blame him for calling it a day. I think his HoF candidacy is pretty secure but I could also see some writers playing the longevity card against him. It’s up to him to decide what’s most important to him.
 

Marciano490

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Cena was hilarious in that Amy Schumer movie.

Gronk’s problem is he’s big but not menacing. He can’t do the Jason Momoa thing. He doesn’t have the Rock’s charisma. Terry Crews has great comedic chops and can do drama too - and has also been awesome in the #metoo movement as an aside.

I can’t think of a single movie that could have a Gronk part replace another. Even a guy like Nate Jones who is just a giant that doesn’t talk much has a different look.
 

Bunt4aTriple

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Gronk would be excellent as the third Manny.

The Rock is pushing it at 6'5" to where it starts to look awkward when he's matched up against a 5 foot nothing female lead. Gronk would just look silly in anything other than the BFG. Every time someone mentions his future in Hollywood I think about that press conference at the super bowl where it appeared that someone had coached him on looking around the room, but he was unable to make eye contact with anyone. He'd need a lot of work.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Comparing Gronk to actual actors is weird. Wouldn't his absolute peak be OJ or Chamberlain?
 

loshjott

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Gronk would be great as Mongo in a remake of Blazing Saddles (which of course could never happen today).

Or as an ensemble player in a Cannonball Run type flick.
 

Ed Hillel

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Yeah, he’d be great for Pixar-type films and maybe as a sidekick in something like 24 Jump Street.

And maybe the next James Bond.
 

BigSoxFan

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Comparing Gronk to actual actors is weird. Wouldn't his absolute peak be OJ or Chamberlain?
Don’t think he’d ever be able to even reach Kareem in Airplane levels. As mentioned above, I think the reality tv scene is best for him. I can’t see him holding his own in a real movie or tv show.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Don’t think he’d ever be able to even reach Kareem in Airplane levels. As mentioned above, I think the reality tv scene is best for him. I can’t see him holding his own in a real movie or tv show.
I know they're both big, tall black guys, but Kareem and Chamberlain aren't the same person.

I'm talking about this guy:



I agree that there is very little chance that Gronk gets to Kareem's level, but he can probably get to Wilt's level, and potentially to OJ's level if his exposure on screen was limited and maximized to his abilities.
 

bakahump

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I thought KFPs post (with the Wilt Pic) was in response to this point.

The Rock is pushing it at 6'5" to where it starts to look awkward when he's matched up against a 5 foot nothing female lead. Gronk would just look silly in anything other than the BFG...
That pic summed that up perfectly.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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He certainly didn't make the kind of money athletes make today, but Jim Brown's salary was $60,000+ in 1965. The median family income that year was $6,882, and income of $25,000 put you into the top 1.5% of households. Walking away from the final year of his contract could not have been an easy decision.
He didn't quit to go get a job selling insurance. He already had money coming in from movies. He made $37K in 1964 in a movie shot in the offseason, and 200K for the first movie post retirement. So staying to play football wasn't a financial decision. He already had a taste of income from acting.
 

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Maybe it's because of the physical presence. but the first role that comes to mind is Howie Long's in Broken Arrow ... although Gronk seems better suited to be a secondary good-guy (who gets killed halfway through) than the lead henchmen who gets killed at the end
 

OnWisc

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Don’t think he’d ever be able to even reach Kareem in Airplane levels. As mentioned above, I think the reality tv scene is best for him. I can’t see him holding his own in a real movie or tv show.
Kareem wasn't in Airplane. You must have him confused with someone else.

I don't think Gronk would have to be defined solely by size based roles. I could see Gronk playing one of the leads in Men At Work, the role of Ed in Ski School, Sphinx in Gone In 60 Seconds, or Tomas Sandstrom in a hypothetical movie based on the life of Tomas Sandstrom.
 

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Gronk would be great for when someone decides to do a Reacher series where Reacher is an actually scary and imposing physical presence.

I think many here don’t realize that an athlete showing up on set for a day or two of shooting as a goof is not going to be indicative of someone who could (not necessarily will) devote the time and effort that had gone into being a professional athlete into acting classes, voice work, and on camera classes.
 
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