Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski had season-ending back surgery last year, which marked the third time that he had an operation on his back and offered a reminder that Gronkowski’s health has been about the only thing to slow him down over the course of his NFL career.
As a result, the Patriots have taken it easy with him at times in past training camps in hopes of getting as much as possible out of their star tight end come the regular season. It doesn’t sound like the Patriots plan to dial things back for him on the practice field this summer, however.
Coach Bill Belichick said Thursday, via CSNNE.com, that Gronkowski “doesn’t have any limits that I know of” when it comes to his participation. Gronkowski went through the offseason program as a full participant as well, but the addition of pads and hitting at some practices could have led the team to take a different approach.
Gronkowski has not sees action in preseason games since 2012, so the team may still opt for precaution in games that don’t count in the standings and that they don’t need in order to know what Gronkowski does on the field. From a practice standpoint, however, it sounds like things are moving at full speed.