Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was in the injury news again on Wednesday when reports surfaced that he would indeed need surgery on his back. That information coupled with his four recent arm surgeries could be very troubling for Patriots fans, but Gronkowski's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told WQAM 560-AM in South Florida on Thursday that his client's latest surgical procedure is no big deal (via Boston.com):
Rob Gronkowski injury: Drew Rosenhaus downplays client’s back surgery
The star tight end could find himself on the physically unable to perform list to start the year and miss a minimum of six weeks. So why isn’t his agent concerned about the latest setback?
Rich Schultz
“This is a new injury, and it’s minor, it’s not as significant. … I don’t think it’s a big deal, I think it’s more preventative maintenance than anything else. It’s something that, although he needs it, he’s had it for awhile and he’s been able to function.”
The reported procedure on his back that Gronkowski has not yet undergone is a “microdiscectomy” that could take 12 weeks to recover from and could keep the Pro Bowl tight end out into the regular season. The recovery will mostly overlap with recovery from his forearm surgery however, and Rosenhaus sees it as the perfect opportunity to correct an issue that Gronkowski has already been playing through.
“The recovery will be very comparable to the amount of time he would’ve missed for the arm surgery, so why not get it done now so that when he is healthy, he’s 100 percent and he doesn’t have to address the back down the road?” Rosenahus added.
Gronkowski’s recovery time from a broken forearm in the middle of last season suffered numerous setbacks that could help place him on the PUP list to start the year, which would eliminate the possibility that he could play in the first six games of the season. It now looks like he’ll use that time to recover from another injury too.
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