Former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady appeared on the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce on July 8, and stories about former teammate Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski came out fast. One in particular had Travis Kelce completely losing it.

Brady started by revealing something most people never knew about the tight-end's preparation.

"Gronk didn't ever work, you know, like a lot of receivers and tight ends will work on catching drills," Brady said on the New Heights podcast. "Julian (Edelman) would come in at like six in the morning and throw tennis balls off the wall. I never saw Gronk ever do any catching drill ever."

While every other receiver on the Patriots was grinding on mechanics, Gronkowski was nowhere near the Jugs machine. Yet he never dropped anything.

"Every ball I throw to Gronk, he'd have these big white gloves and put his hands up like this," Brady said on the New Heights podcast. "It looked like the top of a trash can that I would try to hit. He would run across the field with a smile on his face and the ball would just stick to his hands."

The image of Gronkowski sprinting and grinning while Brady aimed for what looked like a trash can lid says everything about how effortlessly catching came to the legendary Patriots tight-end. No drills. No practice. Just natural hands.

Then came the punchline. Around Gronkowski's third year, he dropped one in practice.

"One day I throw him a ball, and it hits the palm of his hands and falls on the ground," Brady said on the same episode. "And Gronk looks at me like, what? What just happened?"

Gronkowski was so rattled he immediately demanded another chance.

"He goes, Tommy, throw me the ball again," Brady said. "And I fired at him, and he caught it, and it was like he gained his confidence."

Brady's closing line is what made the story perfect.

"For the rest of his career, I never saw him do a catching drill," Brady said in the same appearance. "It was like there was a five-second loss of confidence in a receiver's career."

Travis Kelce was in pieces the whole time. The idea that Gronkowski's catching preparation was basically just playing actual games is the most on-brand Gronkowski story possible.

Tom Brady also called Gronkowski the greatest blocking tight end in NFL history

Gronkowski was so dominant as a blocker that the Patriots would choose to run toward him over a traditional offensive tackle. That changed everything about what New England could call on any given play.

"Gronk was really unique. I think Gronk was the greatest blocking tight end in history," Brady said on the same podcast. "We didn't care. We would rather go to Gronk than the open-side tackle."

Brady admitted he only understood that blocking impact after Gronkowski was gone.

"When we didn't have Gronk, for the first time in my career I realized, 'Oh s***,' like we lose those matchups all of the time," Brady said. "Not only is that not neutral, it's a loss."

Gronkowski finished his Patriots career with 521 catches for 7,861 yards and 79 receiving touchdowns, plus another 81 catches and 12 postseason touchdowns.

Do you think Gronkowski is the greatest tight end in NFL history? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit