Was Rob Gronkowski stopped from ripping into Patriots?

Rob Gronkowski does not believe the New England Patriots made the right move by firing Jerod Mayo, and the legendary tight end may not have said all he wanted to say about his former team’s decision on Sunday.

During the NFL on FOX halftime show of the Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams game, Gronkowski was asked for his thoughts on the Patriots parting ways with Mayo after just one season. He said he was “shocked by that” and made it clear that he felt the change was made too quickly.

“I think it was unfair to coach Jerod Mayo. He had never had the chance to develop as a head coach. He was just a rookie himself in that department,” Gronkowski said. “If you judge a coach by their first year, that’s really not appropriate. Jimmy Johnson, you went 1-15 your first year and then you won a couple Super Bowls after that. I mean, he really…”

Gronkowski seemed like he had more to say, but co-host Michael Strahan grabbed him by the arm and told Gronk it was time to go to commercial break. Some people wondered if the higher-ups at FOX intervened before Gronkowski began trashing the Patriots further.

he 100% was https://t.co/NflqSy0WsH pic.twitter.com/0dRsduqmKf

— mm (@muhtacinm) January 5, 2025

It seems more likely that FOX actually did need to go to a commercial break, especially since there was a second half to play and time was limited. Gronkowski also is not the most well-spoken analyst, so someone may have felt he was rambling a bit.

Gronkowski was teammates with Mayo on the Patriots for several seasons. There was no way he was going to sit up there and say Mayo deserved to be fired a year into the job.