New England Patriots legendary wide receiver Julian Edelman has blasted a claim about former teammate Rob Gronkowski‘s partying antics. 

He responded to an article by Fox which quotes former Patriots defensive end Jake Bequette as saying that Gronkowski would ‘pass out on the training tables in the Patriots training room,’ after a late nights out partying. 

Edelman responded to the article with a tweet saying: ‘Story is BS. Everyone wants to paint Gronk as a party animal. When in reality he was one of the most dedicated teammates I had.’

The three-time Super Bowl champion Edelman played 11 seasons and 137 games in New England, compared to the eight games Bequette played during his two seasons with the Patriots. Bequette also recorded no tackles or defensive statistics during his two-year career.

‘We all had these key fobs that gave us 24/7 access to the Patriots facility there in Foxborough, and during the offseason, Gronk would go out all night with his boys in Boston, stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning, whatever it was, and have his crew drop him off at the Patriots facility,’ Bequette said on ‘Prime Time with Alex Stein.’

‘And he would, like, stagger in to the Patriots locker room, key fob in, and go pass out on the training tables in the Patriots training room.

‘So then, like an hour or two later, when the trainers would come in to start their workday, they’d come in there and see Gronk just sprawled out on the training table, just fast asleep. 

‘They would go over there, they wouldn’t wake him up, they would roll up one of his sleeves and, you know, stick an IV in his arm.

‘After a couple hours, he would just wake up like Frankenstein revived and go out there and just kick ass.’

Gronkowski himself has never shied away from the fact that he enjoys having a good time and even jokingly credited late nights out to aiding his success on the football field.

‘Well, I’m carrying my friends, you know, throughout the bar. I’m holding them up. I’m lifting. I’m curling them,’ he told Jimmy Fallon in January. 

‘They’re on my back, I’m jumping up and down. I’m dancing the whole time. Kind of like Austin Butler. I’m gyrating.’

Julian Nagelsmann‘s agent, Volker Struth, says the former Bayern Munich boss was Chelsea‘s No.1 choice to take over, putting him ahead of Mauricio Pochettino.

However, Nagelsmann pulled out of the race in April after growing frustrated with the process – leaving the door open for Pochettino’s return to the Premier League. 

Pochettino is said to have agreed terms with Chelsea to become their next manager and is set to fly into London to sign a three-year deal in the coming days. 

Speaking on Bild’s podcast Phrasenmaher, Struth said Nagelsmann was right to turn down a ‘club in troubled waters’. 

He said the club are ‘spending a few hundred million euros’ to fix their issues and hinted there would be ‘expectations’ that he’d have to have meet as a result. 

The 57-year-old agent said: ‘I can confirm that Chelsea were quick to call [after Nagelsmann’s dismissal at Bayern Munich]. There were some phone conversations. 

‘It was the right decision [by Nagelsmann] not to go there. It’s a club in troubled waters at the moment. 

‘And their transfer policy, spending a few hundred million euros, has raised expectations that need to be met. There were also some other issues.

‘He was their number one [choice], that was our information. I believe it would have happened if he had wanted it.’

However, according to The Athletic, Chelsea have refuted such claims – acknowledging their interest in Nagelsmann but denying he was their first-choice. 

More to follow…