The Patriots have taken things slowly with tight end Rob Gronkowski in the first three weeks of the season.
Gronkowski is returning from the torn ACL he suffered last year and the Patriots have played him on 48.5 percent of the snaps so far this year. They ramped things up a bit against the Raiders last week and Gronkowski says he’d like to see things go up from there. Gronkowski says he doesn’t feel limited at all physically, so there’s no reason not to be in the lineup more often.
“I’ve been in about three games deep now,” Gronkowski said, via the Boston Herald. “So basically, it’s just progressing every week but it’s getting to the point where we can start rolling more and more. … I don’t want to go out to the game and be limited, so I always want to play as much as I can because I like being out there. So it’s up to the coaches and when my number is called, I’m going to go out there.”
Gronkowski may not be playing as many snaps as he’d find ideal, but he’s definitely still a big part of the offense. Only Julian Edelman has been targeted more often by Tom Brady and his role in the offense will only grow as his playing time does.