Rob Gronkowski Says He’s Suffered 20 Concussions, ‘Blacked out’ Five Times

Rob Gronkowski has dealt with his share of injuries during his NFL career, but we now have a good idea how much of a beating he took over the years. The former New England Patriots tight end recently on CBS News and he was asked about letting his children play football. That is when he revealed he suffered around 20 concussions over a lifetime.

“I will let my son play football, but first, I will educate him on the game, educate him on what I went through,” Gronkowski said. “I truly believe that anything, any injury that you receive is fixable, though. I went through my career and probably had like 20 concussions in my life. No lie. I remember like five blackout ones.”

Having one concussion is not good. But having 20? That is something Gronk will have to be careful with, especially when he gets older. That is one of the reasons why he retired from the NFL. But on the HBO show The Shop, Gronkowski revealed the real reason he called it a career.

“It was about two years ago,” he said. “It was a game-changer in my life where I was trying to go out to the practices during summer, and I was getting smoked by every rookie. And I felt in order to do something bigger in life, in order to get to a higher stage – because you’re winning the Super Bowl — I felt like I had to get away from the game and focus on my health.”

The former All-Pro tight end went on to say the way he was living played a role in not being able to perform like he could.

“I lived like the typical party life,” Gronkowski continued. “I was eating f—ing s— every second, I was just trying to put on weight. I was living that life and at the same time, I was going out and playing f—ing football, running people over, getting the f— run over.”

Gronkowski might be retiring early, but he has put together a Hall of Fame career. He has recorded 521 receptions, 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns in nine seasons. Along with winning three Super Bowls, Gronkowski was named to the Pro Bowl five times and he was named to the All-Pro First Team four times.