New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is one of the faces of the NFL and as a young player he says a lot about the future of the game, which is one reason why it is notable that he said he would be accepting of a gay teammate in the locker room.

According to ESPN.com, Gronkowski spoke in an interview with ESPN Radio New York and said similar comments about the situation that he said last year, that a gay teammate would be accepted by him. Hosts Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco asked the tight end about how the locker room in New England would receive an openly gay player and the tight end said that it likely would not be an issue.

"I got this question before, about a year ago, and I basically will say the same answer that I did a year ago," he said Wednesday in an interview with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco on ESPN Radio New York, when asked how the Patriots' locker room would receive an openly gay player. "You've got to accept the player. Everyone has their own ways to live their life and as long as he's respecting me, keeping distance, respecting myself, I'll respect him back. If he's being a great teammate and he's a guy on the field doing a great job, well then you've got nothing to complain about. He's another teammate and another friend."

Gronkowski gave a response similar to that when asked about it at the ESPYs and after the original question on ESPN Radio, he was also asked if other players felt the same way he did. There were reports last week that said that a player was thinking about coming out, but wasn;t sure yet if the time was right.

"I'm not really sure," he replied. "I never went around asking players on my team or in the NFL, 'Hey, what would you think if someone on our team is gay? How would you take it?' I never thought of that, and never asked anyone that and never tried to find out if there is [a gay player] on the team."

No activae NFL player has come out as a homosexual, although former NFL defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo and Nate Jackson have come out after their careers. Many players have come out to support gay rights, including Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita.