Things looking worse for Rob Gronkowski than they were earlier this week

Maybe it's not a guarantee that Rob Gronkowski will be back by this week for the Saints game.

The tight end has been struggling to recover from multiple surgeries in the offseason. Mainly on his forearm.

It was reported last week that Gronk may have been rushed into surgery when it wasn't entirely necessary last season. This caused several complications that could weaken the bone in his arm. Gronk has sought the opinion of Dr. James Andrews, who will have to clear the tight end sometime in the next few days for him to play.

Adam Schefter and ProFootballTalk report that things are looking worse now than they were at the beginning of the week, per Rotoworld:

Profootballtalk reports Rob Gronkowski (back, forearm) has yet to be cleared for Week 6 and there's now "less optimism" that will happen.
ESPN's Adam Schefter seconds the report. Gronkowski could get clearance Friday or Saturday, but as of now he's looking like a full-blown game-time decision for Sunday's game against the Saints.