It feels like just yesterday that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers welcomed their second-ever Lombardi Trophy back to the Sunshine State. However, in reality, it has been five seasons since then, and the next era of Bucs’ football is fully underway as they hunt down the franchise’s third Super Bowl.

A lot went into the Bucs being successful back in 2020. They hired Bruce Arians to helm the team and were able to get the biggest free agent on the open market, quarterback Tom Brady. They also were able to add other veteran players around their already strong core, but it wasn’t until after that Brady reached out to Rob Gronkowski.

Gronk is one of the most hilarious football players you can come across, which only adds to his performance on the field. In typical Gronk fashion, he made light of every day, and that even made its way over to the defensive side of the ball when he was with the Buccaneers.

On a recent episode of Dudes On Dudes, a podcast hosted by Gronk and former teammate Julian Edelman, he explained how he learned a valuable lesson from defensive tackle Vita Vea.

“Just never slap his a**, Julian. One time I slapped Vita Vea’s a**, I was like let’s go, let’s have a day, and he looked at me like he was about to kill me, bro. And he was like ‘never slap my a** again’. And I was like, ‘no problem Vita, whatever you say I’ll do’.”

Gronkowski likely isn’t the first person to be slightly intimidated by Vea. Standing a staggering 6’4″ and 347 pounds, it’s hard not to.

Gronk meant it the most sincere way possible when he gave Vea the ole slap on the tail, but it’s pretty difficult to read Vea on whether or not he is in on the joke or not.

Either way, it’s a great story from Gronk’s time in Tampa Bay, and the fanbase couldn’t be more thankful that he was able to help bring the Lombardi home along with Vea.