Injuries

To call Gronk injury-prone would be insulting. The general consensus for someone who is injury-prone is a player who gets repeat injuries, generally soft tissue damage. Gronkowski may have had a lot of injuries, but his are more impact injuries that are down to how he plays the tight end position like nobody has before.

As a result, he is always likely to be on the end of a thumping hit which has in the past proved catastrophic. He has managed to stay relatively healthy of late, but one mis-placed hit could spell the end for his season. On top of this, Gronk is not just a pure pass catcher but is also an elite level blocker. The consequence of this is more wear and tear when compared with other Fantasy options like Travis Kelce or Jimmy Graham.

The start of the season is just weeks away and the Patriots coaching staff have so far preferred to keep Gronk from any meaningful action in recent months. Sometimes being too careful can lead to the player being un-prepared due to a lack of match practice. I am not suggesting that Gronk would not be mentally prepared, but quite often the body needs to get used to the physical impact that they receive week-to-week during the season. Most players will tell you that the first few games take a bit of getting used to before the body adjusts. For 99 percent of players, that happens via preseason games. For Gronk it is different.

How the Patriots have handled him this offseason could be viewed as overprotective. Normally Gronk does not play much during the preseason, but that is often counterbalanced through mini-camp, OTA’s, and joint practices, none of which he was a part of this year. When this is all said and done, the way he has been handled this season could lead to an early season injury which will of course affect his Fantasy value.