Tom Brady reveals he only fully appreciated Rob Gronkowski after his retirement

Tom Brady appeared on the "New Heights" podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce on Wednesday and offered an honest admission about his longtime Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski: playing without him was the first time Brady truly understood what he had been working with.

The episode aired July 8 and was Brady's first appearance on the show following his attendance at the Kelce-Swift wedding over the Fourth of July weekend. Brady framed Gronkowski's blocking specifically as the trait that changed the geometry of the entire Patriots offense, and the thing he felt most after Gronk was no longer on the roster.

"When we didn't have Gronk, I as a quarterback for the first time in my career realized like 'Oh s—, we lose those matchups all of the time,'" Brady told the Kelce brothers. "Not only is that not neutral, it's a loss, so now everything is to the open side, or you're flashing the tight end back all of the time. And again, it just limits what you're able to do."

Tom Brady told Gronk's confidence story from his third season

Brady also told a story from Gronkowski's third NFL season that captures how resilient the tight end was emotionally.

After Gronk dropped a pass from Brady, his confidence visibly dipped for a moment. About five seconds later, Brady threw him another pass. Gronkowski caught it, and the drop was forgotten as quickly as it had happened. Brady said he marveled at how fast Gronk's self-belief reset.