An Honest Question About Gronk

[Hunter2_1]

Where would he be in the list of "best overall players"?

It's tough to say who the best 'players' are, because each position is different and they all have varying levels of importance etc. But if we were doing what the NFL Network does, and tried to come up with a top 100 players list, irrespective of position, how far up would you have Gronk?

For me, the best PLAYERS transcend their position. They do more than their competitors. So;

1. JJ Watt: transcends his position because he does things that ought to be impossible. Like being as good as stuffing the run as he is at rushing the passer, swattng the amount of passes he does, taking on triple teams and not being embarrassed, commanding at least double teams all the time whilst still making ground.

2. Is one of Rodgers and Brady for me. One is supremely talented physically, the other is the most successful player of all time 

I think you could have Gronk close to this position? He transcends his position like no other before him. He's a key blocker, a total mismatch and a great athlete for his size with a wicked catch radius. He also (just about) understands one of the toughest playbook in the game, where he has blocking responsibilities as well as route responsibilities, sometimes in the same play. 

Can we put him in the list with the likes of Watt, Rodgers, Brady, Brown, Bell etc?

[TecmoSuperJoe]

27 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Where would he be in the list of "best overall players"?

It's tough to say who the best 'players' are, because each position is different and they all have varying levels of importance etc. But if we were doing what the NFL Network does, and tried to come up with a top 100 players list, irrespective of position, how far up would you have Gronk?

For me, the best PLAYERS transcend their position. They do more than their competitors. So;

1. JJ Watt: transcends his position because he does things that ought to be impossible. Like being as good as stuffing the run as he is at rushing the passer, swattng the amount of passes he does, taking on triple teams and not being embarrassed, commanding at least double teams all the time whilst still making ground.

2. Is one of Rodgers and Brady for me. One is supremely talented physically, the other is the most successful player of all time 

I think you could have Gronk close to this position? He transcends his position like no other before him. He's a key blocker, a total mismatch and a great athlete for his size with a wicked catch radius. He also (just about) understands the toughest playbook in the game, where he has blocking responsibilities as well as route responsibilities, sometimes in the same play. 

Can we put him in the list with the likes of Watt, Rodgers, Brady, Brown, Bell etc?

Ok I'm calling BS on that personally, but as for your original question I definitely think he's a top 100 player of all time...just because he's the best tight end of all time in terms of talent. Maybe if Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Kellen Winslow, John Mackie, or Ozzie Newsome played with Tom Brady they'd probably put up monster numbers too. Still, I think Gronkowski is talent wise, the best the game has seen. 

Don't know as far as a ranking goes how high or low I would have him. But I would have him there. In the original 2010 segment Ditka, Newsome, Winslow, Mackie, and Gonzalez all made it. 

[Hunter2_1]

18 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Ok I'm calling BS on that personally, but as for your original question I definitely think he's a top 100 player of all time...just because he's the best tight end of all time in terms of talent. Maybe if Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Kellen Winslow, John Mackie, or Ozzie Newsome played with Tom Brady they'd probably put up monster numbers too. Still, I think Gronkowski is talent wise, the best the game has seen. 

Don't know as far as a ranking goes how high or low I would have him. But I would have him there. In the original 2010 segment Ditka, Newsome, Winslow, Mackie, and Gonzalez all made it. 

What about in today's NFL exclusively?

[tom cody]

To me Gronk is in the top 5-10 of all players in the NFL right now. Just an awesome player who could be on his way to being the top tight end ever.

[Cheesehawk]

He will forever be the guy in my mind who brought quality WWE to the NFL

[fin156]

3 hours ago, PapaShogun said:

Ok I'm calling BS on that personally,

With you on that, especially with Gronk's involvement.  He runs the same few routes and isn't that advanced.  Now I don't think that his body type would allow for him to run the same kind of routes as say Evan Engram or Jordan Reed, either.  However, teams have a hard time stopping Gronk on those few routes.  Take that Pittsburgh game as an example on the last drive for New England.  He ran a seam up the middle 2-3 times on that drive alone and Pittsburgh couldn't stop him.  That's what makes him great; his pure size, athleticism and ability after the catch. 

 

In terms of where he's at in the top ranks of the NFL, I would say he's a definite Top 15-20 player.  Is he a transcendent player?  I would lean toward no but then again, I don't think J.J. Watt is a transcendent player either so maybe I'm just being picky. 

[Hunter2_1]

2 hours ago, fin156 said:

With you on that, especially with Gronk's involvement.  He runs the same few routes and isn't that advanced.  Now I don't think that his body type would allow for him to run the same kind of routes as say Evan Engram or Jordan Reed, either.  However, teams have a hard time stopping Gronk on those few routes.  Take that Pittsburgh game as an example on the last drive for New England.  He ran a seam up the middle 2-3 times on that drive alone and Pittsburgh couldn't stop him.  That's what makes him great; his pure size, athleticism and ability after the catch. 

 

In terms of where he's at in the top ranks of the NFL, I would say he's a definite Top 15-20 player.  Is he a transcendent player?  I would lean toward no but then again, I don't think J.J. Watt is a transcendent player either so maybe I'm just being picky. 

That is harsh, then, yes. Watt does things we've never seen before (IMO) and so does Gronk - the fact that he's as good blocking as he is receiving is crazy. He's probably not the best at either, but the fact he can combine both a top 3 level or so in each is so useful.

[ET80]

I've always said he's the yin to JJ Watt's yang - both of them are freaks of nature, doing things people shouldn't be able to do.

[Hunter2_1]

1 hour ago, EliteTexan80 said:

I've always said he's the yin to JJ Watt's yang - both of them are freaks of nature, doing things people shouldn't be able to do.

agreed

[RedRider]

Amongst TE, I'd only hesitate to say Tony G was better.

 

I know you want us to rank him amongst all players regardless of position, but that'd arbitrary for obvious reasons. I guess if there was an all-time draft, with position impact taken into consideration, and not counting QBs as that'd be unfair, he'd honestly be around 50 for me. I'd really like to stack my defense and my oline before worryin about offensive weapons. As far as weapons, I'd only have Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice, and maybe Randy Moss and Tony G over him.

[Tyronnosaurus]

There's only one offensive skill player I fear in the league more, and that's Antonio Brown. Gronk is 100% in that group of top players. He's top 10 for me. When I think of the top 10 players in the NFL I think:

Tom Brady

Aaron Rodgers

JJ Watt

Antonio Brown

Rob Gronkowski

Aaron Donald

Julio Jones

Le'Veon Bell

Von Miller

 

For 10 I can't decide between Luke Keuchly, Tyron Smith, Patrick Peterson, or Russell Wilson.

 

Gronk is definitely among these guys. I view him like Watt in terms of dominance at their position. That final drive against the Steelers is a perfect reason why.

[Hunter2_1]

26 minutes ago, Tyronnosaurus said:

There's only one offensive skill player I fear in the league more, and that's Antonio Brown. Gronk is 100% in that group of top players. He's top 10 for me. When I think of the top 10 players in the NFL I think:

Tom Brady

Aaron Rodgers

JJ Watt

Antonio Brown

Rob Gronkowski

Aaron Donald

Julio Jones

Le'Veon Bell

Von Miller

 

For 10 I can't decide between Luke Keuchly, Tyron Smith, Patrick Peterson, or Russell Wilson.

 

Gronk is definitely among these guys. I view him like Watt in terms of dominance at their position. That final drive against the Steelers is a perfect reason why.

Good list. Mine would be close to a carbon copy.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

On 12/20/2017 at 7:34 PM, Hunter2_1 said:

What about in today's NFL exclusively?

If I have him in the top 100 players of all time, then why wouldn't he be a top 100 player today? 

[Hunter2_1]

13 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

If I have him in the top 100 players of all time, then why wouldn't he be a top 100 player today? 

I meant how would you compare him to only current players? Where would he fit into your list of best players who currently play? 

[lancerman]

He's the Jim Brown of TE's.