The Patriots have officially ended tight end Rob Gronkowski’s season.
The team announced that Gronkowski has been placed on injured reserve after tearing his ACL and MCL on a shot to the knee by Browns safety T.J. Ward during Sunday’s 27-26 Patriots win. Gronkowski, who also suffered a concussion on the play, is likely going to be impacted for much of the 2014 offseason as well as he tries to work himself back to full health for the second straight year.
New England also announced that tight end D.J. Williams has been re-signed to the active roster. Williams played in the Week 13 victory over the Texans, but was released last week when Michael Hoomanawanui returned to the lineup. Williams also played seven games for the Jaguars earlier this season.
Williams is on the roster, but he isn’t filling Gronkowski’s shoes. No one’s going to be able to do that, as we saw during the first chunk of this season while Gronkowski recovered from back and forearm surgery. The Patriots will have to improvise and do it quickly in order to keep their offense humming with Gronkowski out of action.