Rob Gronkowski appeared in his last game of the 2016 season on Nov. 27 before undergoing yet another surgical procedure on his back. His status for the start of the upcoming year remains unclear, but New England Patriots fans received some good news this week.
As Mike Reiss of ESPN.com pointed out, photos the Patriots shared on their website from Tuesday’s organized team activities in Foxboro showed Gronkowski wearing a helmet, catching passes and running around the field. While practice will not be open to the media until Thursday, Gronkowski has obviously been cleared in some capacity.
It could be a while before doctors want Gronkowski taking and delivering hits in practice, but he seems to be trending in the right direction. If there was a risk of Gronk missing the start of the regular season, it seems highly unlikely that he would be taking part in May workouts.
Earlier this week, Gronkowski and the Patriots agreed to a contract restructure that gives the All-Pro plenty of incentive to stay on the field in 2017.
