Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has missed almost as many games as he’s played in the last two seasons, and he’s entered two straight offseasons with significant injuries. But Gronk thinks this year will be different.
Gronkowski told Mike Reiss of ESPN that his recovery from a torn ACL is going well enough that he expects to play in Week One. And Gronkowski expects to play in Week 17, and every week in between.
“I’m planning on playing the whole season this year,” Gronkowski said. “I just want to play football. I love playing the game.”
Gronkowski said, however, that he’s not sure if he’ll be good to go when training camp opens, and he understands if the team’s medical staff wants him to ease into things.
“I don’t know yet until I report, so I’ll sit down with the coaches and training staff and we’ll see,” he said. “I’m just working with the trainers right now, improving every single day and whenever it starts up, whatever the trainers have, whatever the coaches have for me, whatever we feel comfortable with [we’ll be] doing as much as possible every day that I can do.”
Having Gronkowski on the field every Sunday would be a big boost to the Patriots.