Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski spent last offseason answering questions about whether he’d be ready to go for the season opener, so he’s familiar with the line of questioning he’ll be facing for the rest of this offseason.
Gronkowski tore his ACL on December 8, ending a season that started late after the tight end recovered from forearm and back surgeries and starting the clock on several more months of uncertainty about his availability. Based on his response to a question about being ready for the season opener, that clock will continue to tick for some time.
“Oh man. That’s too far away, man. I’m just improving every day right now,” Gronkowski said on WAAF.
Gronkowski is rehabbing in New England while his teammates are going through the offseason workout program and it is going to be a while before there’s any substantive updates on his condition He didn’t have surgery until January because his MCL needed to heal, cutting the recovery time even further for a player who has been banged up a lot over the last two years. Getting Gronkowski back at full strength for 12 games and a potential playoff run would be better than 16 games at a lower register because they’ve missed him in the postseason the last two seasons.