Do you think Gronkowski will ever be as good as he was in 2011?

Gronkowski has been through a lot over the past 18-20 months, reconstructive knee surgery, multiple arm surgeries, and a back surgery. Given all his body has gone through I think it is legitimate to ask the question will he ever be the same player he was in 2011.

The positives are that he just turned 25 in mid-May, he certainly does not lack for confidence, and he seems to have a short memory.

I would go with yes, he can return to his prior form, maybe even improve upon it as he learns more about the game as he becomes older and more mature. What are everyone else thoughts?

There really needs to be a 3rd "no idea" kind of option.

I really don't have a guess. I don't have a guess when he'll play, I don't have a guess how good he'll be if/when he does, and I don't have a guess as to whether he'll improve significantly from that point either.

Watson, the game is on!

No because Amendola will be in full on stud form and will be taking a huge percentage of the passes that normally would have went Gronk's way.

have no idea..hope so

KontradictioN said:

No because Amendola will be in full on stud form and will be taking a huge percentage of the passes that normally would have went Gronk's way.

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Gronk will be better then 2011 IMO. He just needs to get better luck to avoid these freak injuries. If gronk stays healthy this year, I think he could break his 2011 TD record

Archeryaddict12 said:

Gronk will be better then 2011 IMO. He just needs to get better luck to avoid these freak injuries. If gronk stays healthy this year, I think he could break his 2011 TD record

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Agree

Freak injuries?? I am leaning towards his physical being in decline and he will keep
getting injured because he doesn't take care of his body. Too much good life is not
very good for the Gronk's health. I'll be very surprised if he make it though a season
without missing games.

I think when he is on the field he will still be as good as ever he is just a freak. Can he put another full season together before he gets to old I think that's a good bet too. Will this be a full year and how many full years can (or even just a few missed) can he pull off? That's a bigger question and starting to doubt him there a little but he is still too young not to think he has a few good full seasons in him.

He's not stupid. He'll learn to play more efficiently and use his body better to punish others and protect himself as he matures, just like everyone does (in their jobs and stuff).

We were all young once. Plenty of tricks in the tight end game that don't require wild, arms and legs flailing bull runs.

JR4 said:

Freak injuries?? I am leaning towards his physical being in decline and he will keep
getting injured because he doesn't take care of his body. Too much good life is not
very good for the Gronk's health. I'll be very surprised if he make it though a season
without missing games.

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I wish I could look like that without taking care of my body…

I don't think he'll ever be that good, but if the question is rephrased: Can Gronkowski again be the NFL's best tight end? then the answer is yes.

If he returns to health, which I assume he will at his age, I'd conclude that he'll be better than he ever has

been. This crap about how he's somehow physically screwed forever is just that - crap.

Brady6 said:

I wish I could look like that without taking care of my body…

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If that photo hasnt lured someone out of the walls to proclaim that Gronk looks like he could lose 4% more bodyfat and bulk up his quads and take x supplement to be less injury prone.. then nothing will.

Brady6 said:

I wish I could look like that without taking care of my body…

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With today's image manipulation tools, you can look that way too.
Looks are one thing ... but muscle and flesh is not the only things that makes a
strong body. Too much alcohol and too much protein can reduce bone density.
Depending on genetics these effects can be more pronounced. We've all seen Gronk's
life style. We'll see but I'll be surprised if he plays this season without missing games.

What he did in the 6.5 games paced out over 16 games would have been
96 Rec
1457 Yards
10 TD

So to answer the question, he still is good as he was in 2011.

Would I like him to be yes, but really no I don't think he will every be like he was in 2011.

JR4 said:

With today's image manipulation tools, you can look that way too.
Looks are one thing ... but muscle and flesh is not the only things that makes a
strong body. Too much alcohol and too much protein can reduce bone density.
Depending on genetics these effects can be more pronounced. We've all seen Gronk's
life style. We'll see but I'll be surprised if he plays this season without missing games.

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He's just fine....

But sounds like you know him personally...so i will take your word for it...

I will say no due Bill O'Brien that year being more of a 2 TE guy with down the seem passing and Josh being more of an outside the numbers guy. Do I hope so, yes I do. I would like Gronk to sit down with Tony G. and ask him how do you keep your body right and how should I take care of myself on the field.

JR4 said:

With today's image manipulation tools, you can look that way too.
Looks are one thing ... but muscle and flesh is not the only things that makes a
strong body. Too much alcohol and too much protein can reduce bone density.
Depending on genetics these effects can be more pronounced. We've all seen Gronk's
life style. We'll see but I'll be surprised if he plays this season without missing games.

Click to expand...

I agree with this post 100%

Dealt with a homeless drunk guy the other day who was hurt pretty bad. I called dispatch and requested the fire department come to the scene. Fireman talked to the homeless guy and gave him in depth talking to about how alcohol removes water from your muscles and your body can't heal itself due to the lack of water out of the muscles.

I was clueless about how important water was to healing and taking care of yourself on the scale he broke it down to.