Rob Gronkowski weighs in on Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers' comments on mediocrity in modern NFL

When Tom Brady speaks, everyone listens, and when he says there's a lot of mediocrity in the NFL right now, he's right. Given that Brady is one of the best to ever do it, his standards are, of course, super high.

But then Aaron Rodgers weighed in as well and agreed with the seven-time Super Bowl champ, so if those two are saying that the rule changes have created bad habits, then there is some truth to it.

Now, Rob Gronkowski, Brady's former teammate, has been asked about what the New England Patriots cornerstone said and if he has a similar notion.

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Gronkowski gives thoughts to Tom Brady's comments

Following Rodgers' comments, Rob Gronkowski, who was a guest on the Up&Adams Show with Kay Adams, had a similar line of thinking about the current state of the game.

“I'd definitely agree. I would say the softness of the league is kind of getting changed by the rules of the game, not the players of the game," Gronkowski said. "Those players that Tom named, are superstars. Those are legendary players, they changed the way game was played, but that was under the rules and regulations back then, it's changed now.

"It has changed how players think, how they're gonna hit another player, you gotta be aware how you're gonna hit another defender as well. So the softness of the game has went down because of the rules and regulations,” he added.

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Is Tom Brady right about the current state of the NFL?

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With all the rules in place now to protect players from big hits, concussions, etc., one could argue that the game has changed dramatically. Whether that is for better or worse, the league is trying to make the game safer.

But in doing so, it has created bad habits in players who now know that they can get around the rules.

"I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL. I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past," Brady said on the show. "The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it's been."

In his conversation with Stephen A. Smith, Tom Brady revealed that in his day, he would not throw the ball across the middle to a teammate for fear of knocking them out of the game due to the physicality of football at the time.

There isn't any of that now, and as we have seen over the last few weeks, NFL officials have come under fire for "soft" penalties on players, like roughing the passer.

The league is changing what it thinks is in the best interests of its player's health. But has it made the play mediocre? That is up to you to decide.