Gronk to have back surgery

[Brady_to_Moss]

not sure he will ever be the same..hope i am wrong

Ahern NEEDS to be healthy this year

 

[IllegalContact]

not sure he will ever be the same..hope i am wrong

Ahern NEEDS to be healthy this year

Given its his back, either he will be the same, or he won't be on the field.......such is the life of a bad back

However, I do believe this is to clear something up in order to prevent something bigger

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

would feel much better if they had welker back..

 

[Archeryaddict12]

Given its his back, either he will be the same, or he won't be on the field.......such is the life of a bad back

However, I do believe this is to clear something up in order to prevent something bigger

Yep, after the landings he has done, he might need a touch up. He will still be a beast when he gets back.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Does he get a free one after this one? Not good, what is this his 6th surgery in a few short years? That being said, I hope he recovers fully. This offense is not good enough or flexible enough to adapt without Gronk in the lineup.

So we will potentially have no Welker and no Gronk to start the season. Amendola better be amazing.

 

[deters]

Ballard is a very good tight end and should be able to fill the void left by Gronk. Sure he isn't as good as Gronk but Ballard imho is a top 10 TE.

With Ballard, Nandez, Hoohoo or the new guy from Nevada, I think there is enough depth and quality to start Gronk on the PUP until he is all healed up.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Ballard is a very good tight end and should be able to fill the void left by Gronk. Sure he isn't as good as Gronk but Ballard imho is a top 10 TE.

With Ballard, Nandez, Hoohoo or the new guy from Nevada, I think there is enough depth and quality to start Gronk on the PUP until he is all healed up.

Ballard has has 38 receptions in his career....

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

Ballard has has 38 receptions in his career....

38-604 in his last healthy season is a very strong season. 15.9 YPC. Gronkowski's career high is 14.7 YPC. Tony Gonzalez' career high is 12.9 YPC.

Will Ballard be the same player he was ? We'll have to see. But if so he's a far better TE than those filling in for Gronk last year.

 

[Rob0729]

The Pats seemed to elect to have him have this surgery now rather than waiting. That tells me that they are hopeful he can recover from both surgeries before the start of the season. If not before the start of the season, not long after. I think if he was more likely than not to miss the first six games by going to PUP, they would have had him wait until next offseason.

That said, it doesn't mean he won't end up on in season PUP. I just think that the odds are at least decent he will be ready by week one or at the latest week two or three.

 

[Rob0729]

Ballard has has 38 receptions in his career....

Ballard was pretty darn good in his last season he played. Not anywhere near Gronk level or even Hernandez when healthy, but a solid starter. Ballard was buried on the Giants depth chart because they already had a solid starter in Kevin Boss. But when Boss bolted to Oakland, Ballard got his shot.

Ballard is a case of an UFA who sat on the bench because of his draft status and came through big when he was given a shot. Both the Giants and the Pats have had players who did that (Victor Cruz, Wes Welker for example).

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Well that sucks but on the bright side, if he is PUP'd that about doubles his odds of being healthy for the playoffs.

 

[Tunescribe]

would feel much better if they had welker back..

Well, if you're thinking in terms of a transplant, Welker's back wouldn't fit Gronk.

 

[JMarr]

From my understanding this isn't a must need surgery. It's during the down tune to insure he will be fine. Gronk we all know will be fine when on the field. If Tom can develop chemistry with the others, we could have a monster O.

Are you drunk?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The Pats seemed to elect to have him have this surgery now rather than waiting. That tells me that they are hopeful he can recover from both surgeries before the start of the season. If not before the start of the season, not long after. I think if he was more likely than not to miss the first six games by going to PUP, they would have had him wait until next offseason.

That said, it doesn't mean he won't end up on in season PUP. I just think that the odds are at least decent he will be ready by week one or at the latest week two or three.

If the Patriots think he'll be ready to play week 2 or week 3, they'll likely carry him on the 53. They wanted Dave Thomas on the roster so badly in 2007 that, for reasons I fail to understand, they activated him off PUP before the season started, and were willing to carry him on the 53.

 

[supafly]

If the Patriots think he'll be ready to play week 2 or week 3, they'll likely carry him on the 53. They wanted Dave Thomas on the roster so badly in 2007 that, for reasons I fail to understand, they activated him off PUP before the season started, and were willing to carry him on the 53.

That worked out almost as well as the decision to designate Schiancoe as their IR exemption player right from the get go last season, probably worse.

I'd even go as far to say that if they believe Gronkowski will only miss the first 3-4 games they'll carry him on the 53 man roster. It's just worth it for those couple/few extra games.

 

[supafly]

Ballard is a very good tight end and should be able to fill the void left by Gronk. Sure he isn't as good as Gronk but Ballard imho is a top 10 TE.

With all of the expectations from players this year, Jake Ballard easily takes the cake as far as patsfans.com goes.

I guess everyone has their own opinion, so rock out...

I think he's a much better replacement than anyone we've seen so far, but I'd hardly go as far as to call him a "top 10 TE in the NFL."

 

[supafly]

38-604 in his last healthy season is a very strong season. 15.9 YPC. Gronkowski's career high is 14.7 YPC. Tony Gonzalez' career high is 12.9 YPC.

I don't dispute your point that Ballard has shown some flashes in his limited playing time, but you could pretty much say the same exact thing about any number of NFL players. There is just too small of a sample size at this point in time to speculate as a viable replacement to Gronkowski's production...unless we're just expecting a viable blocking replacement, but we're not.

I think you are spot on with the comment that Ballard can potentially be much better than anything we've seen so far, so that should be enough of a positive to be very optimistic about in itself.

I think there's also a chance that Fells can return to something closer to his older form as his injury may have been more serious and hampering that most of us thought last season. If that is the case then we should be a fine position to continue to run 2 TE sets and see some production from our backups.

I think it's a very important position to keep an eye on, as I am not feeling terribly optimistic about both Gronkowski/Hernandez playing every game for the entire season. Both Ballard and Fells (if it was indeed an injury and not a lack of talent or ability to pick up the offense etc) should provide a nice cushion on some level, but I don't personally agree with any comparisons to top 10 NFL TE's either. That would be an insane, but pleasant surprise.

 

[ausbacker]

I'm not going to bother myself with worrying about injuries until September and then January.

 

[Gumby]

So will any of the guys who are always saying the Pats are cheap bastids come out now and applaud them for laying out $53M (? right?) on a guy with a back injury or will they be hypocrits now and say what foolish wastrels they were - since this was a predisclosed/known condition.

Back (requiring surgery) injuries are the one that you never REALLY fully recover from. Other bones heal or can be replaced artificially - tears etc as well can be fixed. [They are saying they are taking a chunk of his disk OUT.] With backs, you just end up living with some level of degredation. Hopefully somewhere above 90% of pre-injury.


The other injuries (as freak as the 2nd forearm break was) are 1 time occurrences that are just going to happen throughout a career in a violent sport. Particularly when you become the #1 (hi payoff) target for your QB; there are at least 2 of the 16 teams you play each year who will have a scumbag (pollard-type) who will intentionally target you for injury.

I have a very low level of concern that he will be back and contribute a lot this season - just bears watching / being patient - let him heal.

But it certainly does raise significant concern about the long term viability of that 6-year contract. Backend years could either end up being wasted $s (if they exercise the 2015 option) or they could end up (wrongly) having to cut him early if they can't resolve his back (fully healed) before the extension decision date comes. But worrying doesnt get you anything. BB always has a backup-depth plan in any event (ballard etc.).

 

[Joker]

will you just stop Gumby...the Pats ARE cheap...unless they pay out huge contracts like THIS one..and then they're STUPID...cheap and stupid...there is no middle ground...they sauck and every move they've ever made saucks and they will sauck this season like every other season except the seasons they got lucky which don't count because they got lucky drafting Brady so THAT makes it not count...face it, they're real bad and everything is horrible and gone tragically over the cliff....because they're too cheap to pay huge contracts to the right players...they have NEVER paid a big contract to the right players...and I hope Welker scores five hundred TD's on them to pay them back for being so cheap ...and throwing away money on some injured stiff who is NO WELKER!!!!!....