We're just all dealing with such incomplete information that even trying to express an opinion seems a bit silly. The only real hard piece of information we have is that he wasn't put on the PUP, leading to reasonable speculation that he is not progressing as well as people had hoped -- or at least, that the risk of using up the roster spot was miscalculated. But other than that, we get absolute radio silence on the situation.
I know that Belichick feels the team gets a significant advantage by being mum and controlling information. Perhaps that's true. I guess the uncertainty adds to our opponents' burdens in game preparation. At some point, though, I do think some hard information is warranted. If this gets to game 9 or something, I wonder whether Mr. Kraft might step in and offer something concrete. He is the one that has to protect the brand, after all, even if his HC thinks it affects the Xs and Os to a modest degree. But without anything concrete, there's just nothing to say.
It's at bottom a medical situation. If the medical opinions that Gronk trusts are saying, "50 percent you could have a career threatening injury and that percentage goes way way down in three weeks," then I think we could understand the calculus. On the other hand, if he's being told, "you're at 95 percent and it would have to take a freak situation to make it worse," then we would have a different opinion. None of us knows. I know a lot of people have guesses or think they know, but they don't.
As far as I'm concerned, and I've posted this before, I believe this team needs to learn to win without Gronk. I don't fault him for not playing if he's not medically cleared, but I think that misses the point. He's now been out longer with a broken bone than people are out for Tommy John surgery. He's had injuries to three different parts of his body. He's had multiple surgeries. He gets hurt, and he stays hurt. He's missed a massive number of games in college, and in the pros. Even in his relatively "healthy" NFL years, he has missed very important games with injuries. Maybe it's the way he plays. Maybe it's a calcium thing. Maybe it's what he eats. Maybe it's genetics. Maybe it's something else. Maybe it's just bad luck. But at this point, it's pretty unreasonable to expect he will stay healthy. It goes against the great weight of evidence. Now, he might. And it's certainly not unreasonable to hope he will stay healthy. But hoping and expecting are two different things. This team needs to learn to play without him, because the chance that it will be compelled to do so seems higher than with other players. Every game we get out of him is gravy, and he's such a game changer that he's worth a roster spot for hope, at least at this point.