Rob Gronkowski is ready for just about anything the “Fox NFL Sunday” crew throws his way, even fake segments about fictional football players.
That’s what happened to the four-time Super Bowl champ during a previous day on the job, with the pregame team recapping Sunday how they pranked Gronkowski into discussing a non-existent Cowboys tight end named Rich Russo.
“He thought we were going live with an extra segment. Everybody at Fox knows this is not real — except for Gronk,” Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer explained. “The premise was, I was going to ‘break news’ that the Cowboys were activating this great Pro Bowl tight end who doesn’t exist and Gronk has to go on what he thinks is live TV to talk about this tight end.”
The Fox crew, comprised of Gronkowski, Glazer, Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Howie Long and Curt Menefee, are next shown on set, with Strahan suggesting they should discuss Russo next.
Glazer then opens up about Russo’s activation while Gronkowski — who played tight end for the Patriots and Buccaneers across 11 seasons — stays quiet as his co-hosts hype the phantom player.
“That’s big because Russo is a complete game-changer, takes so much pressure off [Cowboys quarterback] Dak [Prescott], takes so much pressure off the run game, great blocker, great receiver,” Strahan gushes as Gronkowski takes in the intel.
Menefee then puts Gronkowski on the spot, asking where he ranks a player of Russo’s caliber among the league’s tight ends.
“Uh, he’s been out for a little bit so he might be a little rusty coming back, but I think they’re going to give him the opportunities, that’s for sure, but also they got [tight end Jake] Ferguson as well so they’re going to be a 1-2 combo,” he said.
As Gronkowski lauded Ferguson, Brashaw turned the conversation back to Russo.
“He’s the only guy in the league that has two fingers missing on his right hand, that’s why he’s been out, and he’s back now,” the Steelers great said, to which Gronkowski interjected, “So is that going to affect him when he’s catching a pass?”
Gronkowski kept the conversation going as his colleagues dropped their poker faces, erupting into laughter as Menefee revealed the ruse.
“Whoa! I was wondering,” a clearly shocked Gronkowski said. “I was going to say, right when it was done, ‘Guys, I’ve never heard of Rich Russo in my life.’”
Gronkowski said on Sunday’s show how the crew had his “head spinning,” and that he’s learned two things from the ordeal.
“That I am a funny guy and number two, that I am always ready,” he quipped.
Gronkowski initially joined Fox Sports in 2019 following his first NFL retirement.
He teamed up with the network again in 2022 after calling it a career following the 2021 season.
