Legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski recently responded to rumors that he's never spent any money he earned from contracts while playing in the NFL.
Gronk was asked about his financial acumen in a recent appearance on the Bussin' with the Boys podcast, hosted by former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan .
"It's rumored that you never spent a dollar of your NFL earnings. Is that true?" Compton asked.
The answer will leave you floored.
"Technically, it's true," Gronkowski replied. "(Agent) Drew Rosenhaus actually gave me a $50,000 up front, like marketing budget at the beginning, and you got to pay them back over the time, the first fifty grand you made."
"So, I actually took that fifty grand. I bought me a car, you know, I paid for my spot up in New England actually with it, and then as I was getting a couple of deals, I paid them off," he added. "But just overall, you know, I actually – I'm very frugal."
The four-time Super Bowl champion, who earned over $70 million during his career, explained why he decided to bank his contract money and let the magic of compounding interest take over.
"I didn't know how long the NFL was gonna last. I was a second-round pick, so it was like a four-year, $4,000,000 deal, and I was like, if I played this contract out, I'll be set for life," he explained. "I got $2,000,000 in my bank, I can make a hundred and two hundred thousand dollars of interest."
He explains that he tucked the money away in case his playing career didn't quite pan out. You know, the career that led to four rings, five Pro Bowls, and a spot on the NFL All-Decade Team for the 2010s.
"I was like, if I only played three (or) four years, I'm good. And I wanted that situation for me too, that I could be good as well. Like, hey, if I don't ball, if I'm not the player that I think I could be, whatever, I'm still set for life, because $2,000,000 in the bank is set for life to me at that time."
"So I just always wanted to save it, and I just used my money that I was getting off the field to just spend it on whatever I needed to spend it on," Gronkowski added. "It just kept continuing, and to this day, technically, I have not spent any of my NFL money."
RELATED: Rob Gronkowski takes shot at former coach Bill Belichick, 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson
Rob Gronkowski also spoke about the Bill Belichick situation at North Carolina, particularly the mess caused by the 72-year-old coach's 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
"That's a little surprising to me," he said of the situation. "Because he was all about eliminating distractions."
Gronkowski has voiced similar criticisms.
"You know, and in the back of your head, too, you're just thinking to yourself as well, 'When you were on the Patriots , the whole goal was to eliminate all the distractions that can possibly happen while you're on the team,'" he said in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub .
"And don't bring those distractions to the team and in the locker room, and we're just looking down at the program in North Carolina, and it feels like there are just distractions 24/7 down there."
But Gronk also notes that Belichick had to deal with distractions all the time in New England, citing his own antics, issues with Tom Brady , and, of course, the Aaron Hernandez story.
He says it might fuel the coach to be even more successful at North Carolina.
"The distractions sometimes fuel him," Gronkowski said. "I mean, how much you know, crazy s— did he deal with in New England … and we would just go out there and win constantly at a rate that's never been seen before."
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