Rob Gronkowski denies Buccaneers cheating fiasco he started

For once, it’s not the Patriots who may have broken the rules. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have committed a tampering violation before acquiring Rob Gronkowski from New England on April 21, if what the future Hall of Fame tight end hinted at over the weekend is true. “I was in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers …

For once, it’s not the Patriots who may have broken the rules.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have committed a tampering violation before acquiring Rob Gronkowski from New England on April 21, if what the future Hall of Fame tight end hinted at over the weekend is true.

“I was in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers playbook four weeks ago, and I wasn’t even on the team,” the always-hyper Gronk said Saturday while appearing on a Bud Light-sponsored NFL draft party.

According to Pro Football Talk, while having the Buccaneers playbook might not automatically be considered a violation of league rules, the matter in which the unretired 30-year-old received it may be.

Gronkowski’s playing rights still belonged to New England at the time Gronkowski said he had the playbook, though he walked away from football a year ago after winning his third Super Bowl.

According to the NFL policy, tampering is defined as “any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL.” That means the Buccaneers would not have been allowed to talk to Gronkowski if they planned on attempting to acquire him as they eventually did.

Based on Gronkowski’s timeline, he would have gotten his hands on the playbook shortly after Tom Brady left New England to sign a two-year, $50 million fully guaranteed contract with Tampa Bay.

After reports of Gronkowski’s story were published, he walked back the comments Wednesday night and said he “was just joking around,” as he “was pretty much the whole time that night.”

He then held up a box that he said held his Buccaneers team-issued laptop, adding that it was delivered Wednesday, in accordance with the league’s virtual and voluntary offseason program.

Before the trade, there were rumblings Gronkowski could end up with the Buccaneers. Gronkowski had indicated in the past he didn’t want to play with anyone other than his buddy Brady, and the Patriots offense floundered last season without the hulking 6-foot-6 receiver, who came in at 265 pounds during his playing days but in January said he lost 10-15 pounds.

Gronkowski, who indulged in the WWE and the CBD industry during his year-long absence from the game, made $53 million in nine seasons with the Patriots and is under contract for one year at $10 million in Tampa. The Patriots traded him and a seventh-round pick to the Buccaneers in exchange for a fourth-round pick.

The Buccaneers previously were chastised by other teams after it was found that Brady met with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich during the “dead period” of the offseason, which prohibits such meetings. The league, however, said the Buccaneers did not violate any rules.

Both developments mark a bit of a reversal, considering the Patriots long have been the ones labeled cheaters during their two-decade reign over the NFL.

Last season, a member of the franchise’s credentialed video team was questioned by Bengals for inappropriately filming the field from the press box during a game between the teams. The Patriots said the staffer was unaware of the rules and that there was no ill-intent.

No punishment has been handed out for that incident, though Brady was suspended four games in 2015 and the Patriots were fined $1 million as a result of the infamous “Deflategate.” Bill Belichick and the team also were fined $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, in 2008 after it was determined they illegally filmed the Jets coaching staff in what was deemed “Spygate.”