Buccaneers play brutal restaurant prank on NFL rookies
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a long-standing tradition of pranking their rookies and there was no exception for this year's crop of fresh faces.
Normally, the rookies of each position have to split the bill from a dinner with members of that position, but the offensive line took it a step further.
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The O-line went to Ruth's Chris Steak House, where they managed to horrify Korren Kirven and Cole Gardner.
The rookies were told they had to pay the mother of all restaurant bills which totalled a whopping $26,000.
Here's a better shot of that Bucs offensive line rookie dinner tab. $10,000 in cognac, $3,450 in red wine at @RuthsChris ... pic.twitter.com/7tYn1uqd1f
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 17, 2017
Ouch. $10,000 on Cognac and more than $3000 on red wine?
After letting the rookies panic for a moment, it was revealed that the team and the restaurant were in cahoots and the obscenely high bill was actually a fraud.
"It's a fake bill," veteran Donovan Smith tweeted. "We tricked the rookies."
Thank you for using your head it's a fake bill we tricked the rookies. Didn't take much for someone to logically think about this
— Donovan Smith (@DSmith_76) August 17, 2017
The actual bill was $3,000, which was far more managable for Kirven and Gardner.
But the offensive line offered an even better olive branch to the rookies — they picked up the bill and Kirven and Gardner were off the hook.
"We didn't have to pay for anything," Kirven said.
"We were shocked at first when we saw the bill. We thought we weren't gonna make it. But at the end, knowing they paid it was pretty cool of them."