Rob Gronkowski is no lock to be active for the start of the NFL season.
The star Patriots tight end, the best at his position in the league, has been dealing with an infection in the area where a second metal plate was put in to repar his broken left forearm, according to the Boston Herald. There’s a shot he won’t be ready to catch Tom Brady’s catches by Week 1.
Gronkowski is nearly at the end of a six-week cycle of antibiotic treatments administered by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, but no one knows if the infection has been completely cured. Doctors will have to go back into his arm to remove the current plate and install a new one, but they wouldn’t be able to do that if they find more infected tissue. That would mean more surgery, which would directly lead to Gronkowski missing the start of the season.
The forearm was initially broken in Week 11 last season against the Colts. He was out five weeks after the first surgery and competed in a limited capacity in the final regular-season game against the Dolphins. He also played against the Texans in the Patriots’ divisional playoff win, but didn’t make it out of the first quarter, breaking his forearm again just above where the original plate was installed.
Gronkowski then had surgery for the third time in February just to treat the infection.
He didn’t mention any potential setbacks in interviews this week.
“The arm is feeling way better than it was during the playoffs, and in the regular season when I broke it,” Gronkowski said on the “Mike and Mike” morning show. “Right now, I’m rehabbing, getting the muscle stronger around it. You want to get everything activated, re-activated, because it shuts down for a little bit when it’s healing … when my trainers give me the good-to-go, hopefully in the next couple weeks, as soon as possible, I can get rolling again … doing what I love doing, catching some balls.”