Gronk might be a meathead but he’s no dummy. How many guys just couldn’t get the NE offense? Quite a few, they had all the skill in the world but couldn’t pick it up. Then you have Gronk who’s a key cog in the McDaniels offense, they split him out, he’s in tight and he seems to have Brady’s complete trust.
Either he’s smarter than he’d have us believe or he’s smart enough to surround himself with smart people, he’s got endorsements, he makes millions and he has rings.
There are plenty of different kinds of "intelligence". I get that.
It is possible for someone to almost be a savant at something and pretty much terribad at nearly everything else.
Heck, there are musicians who are among the best in the world... and have trouble taking a subway or paying for things.
Gronk will definitely go down as one of the best TEs to ever play.
That wasn't my criticism.
I've seen him communicate both in after game interviews as well as during calm studio sessions and more informal settings and he consistently cannot put a sentence together to save his life.
As for "smart enough to surround himself with smart people", he didn't draft himself to NE, he didn't draft Brady, he didn't hire Belichick and he only does his part in the offense, so it's not like he's a football genius.
He's got endorsements because he's a likable guy with the demeanor of a 12 year old. It's like if the movie Big was set to football.
But let's be clear, he's not a grown up in the conventional sense and pays people to be that for him. Was that his idea? No clue.
What I was saying, specifically, is that being an "action star" is WAAAAAY harder than it seems. John Cena is a really well spoken guy and can actually act, but he hasn't broken through, yet (I did think the Marine was a good start, not sure what happened after that).
My point was he brings literally NOTHING to film. He can't speak. He's wooden as hell except when he's partying. He has ONE emotion, so unless he went to the Kristen Stewart Single Emotion School of Acting, he's got no future in it.
Also, while there are more options for actors than ever with Apple TV+ jumping in with Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Starz, Hulu, Amazon Prime and others, the action film genre is still pretty limited in the number of releases that get funded as they cost more to make. Also, between Marvel and DC, much of the bandwidth for action has been taken up by them so if you're not the Rock or Jackie Chan, you're maybe having trouble making a pure action film unless it's an indy film like Polar with Mads Mikkelson (which was pretty damn good, imho). Those indy action films have the benefit of using underutilized amazing actors like Mads Mikkelson or Viggo Mortensen and their tremendous acting skill coupled with their ability to do action drives those films.
Gronk's not the devil and I don't see him as such.
He was an amazing TE. What he will NEVER be is an action star in movies. There are prerequisites for that, of which he possesses only the physicality.
Now if there's a role for a gigantic, mute serial killer.... maybe.
