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Sometimes, the route you want is not the route that is best.
Rob Gronkowski was taken by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft and went on to win three rings with the club, establishing himself as one of the best tight ends to ever play the game.
However, Gronkowski did not originally want the Patriots.
The 30-year-old told 98.7 Arizona Sports this week that he was actually hoping the Arizona Cardinals would draft him.
“I loved being in the state of Arizona,” said Gronkowski, who played his collegiate football at the University of Arizona. “I was praying that they would take me because I wanted to go there. I felt like they needed a tight end and they brought me in for a little visit.”
The visit did not go that well, and Gronkowski said that he felt the meeting with the Cardinals was more of a formality than anything else.
“I took a visit there and everything, I could tell they had no interest in me,” Gronkowski said. “I could tell, the people that brought me in, they were just bringing me in to bring me in.”
It seems pretty safe to say that Arizona made a mistake.
Gronkowski ended up playing nine NFL seasons with the Patriots, making five Pro Bowls and earning four First-Team All-Pro selections.
But as time went on, Gronkowski began to sustain more and more injuries, which resulted in the star retiring at the young age of 29 last offseason.
Gronk went out on top, though, as he played a pivotal role in New England's Super Bowl run last year.
