Week 18 brings with it a little extra drama for various players across the league who are on the doorstep of hitting some lucrative incentives in their contracts. Ron Gronkowski was one of those players.
Rob Gronkowski went into this game with the possibility of earning up to $1 million in incentive bonuses. The veteran tight end needed seven catches and 85 receiving yards in order to hit his two incentives that were worth $500,000 apiece. Things got a bit crazy when he was still one catch away from that last incentive with less than seven minutes to go.
With the Buccaneers up by 14 at that point and the game in hand, there was a case to be made to begin resting their starters. Tom Brady was having none of that as he defied orders and went back into game to make sure his friend got his catch.
As it turns out, Gronk was mic’d up for that game and could be seen informing Brady of such.
“If I don’t get the seventh catch, I have to go get a real job.”
After Gronkowski made the catch, Blaine Gabbert came in to relieve Brady and the Buccaneers cruised to the victory. Gronkowski finished with 137 yards receiving on seven catches that now has him $1 million richer.
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Meanwhile, the Buccaneers finished the season with a 13-4 record and will now gear up for a matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Super Wild Card Weekend.
