There’s another player who the 13-year-old wants to be like.
Tom Brady is a football hero for kids everywhere—but apparently, his own son looks up to a different NFL star.
According to the former quarterback, his younger son Ben instead idolizes his former teammate, Rob Gronkowski, who played on both the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside the 46-year-old.
The father-of-three was opening up about his retirement on a new episode of the SiriusXM podcast, Let’s Go! With Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray, this week, when he revealed that he’s been practicing with Ben to cope with his first season not playing football since he started in the NFL over 20 years ago.
“I’m always gonna love throwing that ball,” he explained. “My son is gonna play football this year, Benny, so I’ve been throwing the ball to him in the backyard.”
He then revealed that Ben “wants to be a tight end like Gronk, and he’s gonna be a little beast.”
“He’s an amazing kid and he’s got a lot of talents,” he continued of his younger son. “He’s a really talented musician and artist.”
“And then he told me this year, ‘Dad, I’m playing football.’ And I was like, ‘What do you wanna play?’ And he was like, ‘Tight end. I wanna be like Gronk!'” the 7-time Super Bowl winner recounted,
“So I actually texted Gronk and I’m like, ‘Yo, my boy wants to be like you!'” he added, noting that Gronkowski, 34, “loved it.”
In addition to Ben, Brady also shares daughter Vivian, 10, with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen. The football G.O.A.T. previously welcomed son Jack, now age 16, with ex Bridget Moynahan.