The Arizona Cardinals have had numerous draft misses over the years, and one of them was Rob Gronkowski, a player many teams missed out on.
Gronk grew up in Williamsville, New York and played his college ball at Arizona. He had 75 catches for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns in two seasons for the Wildcats and missed his junior season because of back surgery, which caused him to drop in the draft.
During an appearance on Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station Tuesday, Gronk shared that he wanted to play for the Cardinals and was disappointed that they didn’t seem interested in him.
“I loved being in the state of Arizona … I was praying that they would take me because I wanted to go there,” Gronkowski told the Doug & Wolf Show. “I felt like they needed a tight end and they brought me in for a little visit … I took a visit there and everything, I could tell they had no interest in me. I could tell, the people that brought me in, they were just bringing me in to bring me in.”
That was Arizona’s loss.
The Cardinals drafted DT Dan Williams No. 26 overall that year and then took linebacker Daryl Washington at No. 47. Meanwhile, the Patriots took future Pro Bowler Devin McCourty at No. 27 and traded up to draft Gronk, a future Hall of Famer, at No. 42.
The Cardinals probably wish they could have had those picks back.
