Gronkowski's agent says Gronk played through back injury, downplays significance
"not serious", "minor".
Music to the ears of Patriots fans who have been worried sick over Rob Gronkowski and all of his surgeries. The upcoming one being on his back.
Gronkowski's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, took to the airwaves today to calm down all of the wild speculation going on about his client's back. Though obviously he's his agent so let's take all this with a bit of a grain of salt.
Rosenhaus reffered to the injury as "lingering" and something that Gronk had been dealing with all of last season.
Boston.com
“It’s not a serious back surgery,” Rosenhaus told WQAM 560-AM in South Florida. “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.”
This does align with a recent report from Albert Breer stating that the Patriots did expect that Gronk would have this surgery. It also should help serve to quiet some of the speculation that Gronk somehow injured his back while partying this winter.
The situation sounds somewhat similar to how things went with Jared Sullinger of the Boston Celtics. Sullinger, like Gronk, slid in the draft due to concerns about his back. The team expected him to need surgery all along, he played through it for part of the season but ultimately needed to have it done. His surgery, like Gronk's, is supposed to prevent any issues in that area in the future.
Gronkowski likely didn't have the surgery right away because his camp probably hoped that they wouldn't need to have it. However, with the tight end being out of commission for awhile after recent arm surgery anyway, it becomes more of a "why not?" situation in regards to the back surgery.
“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?” Rosenhaus said. “The bottom line is Rob had a successful forearm operation last Monday. I was there in Boston with him, everything went very well, and he’s doing so well now that he can afford to get back surgery.”
“I use the cliché, 'We're killing two birds with one stone' by getting the back done while he's out and recovering with his arm, because he really can’t do much right now anyway.”
All of this certainly doesn't alleviate any of my concerns about Gronk, however, it's at least nice to know that this is supposed to prevent further issues with the back. What do you think?
