Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about Aaron Hernandez’s infamous case. The former NFL star as arrested in 2013 for the murder ofOdin Loyd. He was found guilty in 2015 and later committed suicide in jail in 2017.

Needless to say, Hernandez’s former teammates have constantly declined to talk about such a delicate subject. Now, Rob Gronkowski has finawlly broken the silence on his situation during an interview withKyle Brandt.

Gronkowski gave a brief response on the subject andadmitted that he never thought of Hernandez the way the media portrayed him and that he was definitely shakento hear the news about him.

Rob Gronkowski Says He Was Shocked To Hear The News About Aaron Hernandez

“Aaron was a great player. He was a great football player. But, I mean, I get questions like that all the time about him and everything. And with everything going on, I was definitely shook when I heard that, when I heard everything about it. Because being his teammate and everything and you just, you really don’t see that. You’re not really looking into players like ‘that’s who they are’ or ‘that’s what they’re doing.’ But just overall I just try to keep it simple and light. He was a great football player but that does not mean anything. You learn from other people, too,” Gronk said.

For years, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski were a deadly duo for Bill Belichick’sdouble-tight end offense. They both entered the league in 2010 as draft picks by the New England Patriots.

Hernandez was forced to retire for obvious reasons following his third season in the league, while Gronkowski went on to become arguably the greatest tight end of all time and won 4 Super Bowls (3 with the Patriots).