FOXBORO, Mass. — Rob Gronkowski’s knee was feeling good enough to horse around with his teammates on Wednesday, but the New England Patriots tight end wasn’t on the field for the first day of OTAs on Tuesday.
Gronkowski tore his right ACL during the Patriots’ Week 14 win over the Cleveland Browns in December, and the All-Pro said his rehab is “coming along good.”
“Just doing my own thing. Just getting healthy on the side,” Gronkowski said Wednesday during a Patriots Play 60 event at Igo Elementary School in Foxboro.
Gronkowski said there have been no setbacks this time around, unlike last year when he had trouble recovering from back and knee surgeries.
“It’s way different stuff. This year, basically just gotta be patient and just work hard and literally just give it all I can every single day,” Gronkowski said. “Right after this Play 60 event, I’ll be going right to the building and go work out with my teammates, go through the rehab, go study up and everything. All I can ask for is to work hard every day and let the body heal and do what it does, and hopefully when it comes down to it, I’m ready to roll.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who donated $60,000 to Foxboro Public Schools, said Gronkowski looks good when he’s down in the Patriots’ weight room.
“Well, I do my Play 60 every day, and I’m down in the training room, and he’s been there, and he’s been very diligent and working very hard,” Kraft said. “Now we just hope it translates to the field.”
Gronk was partying with Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel in Las Vegas over the weekend, but nothing that the fifth-year tight end does off the field seems to bother Kraft very much.
“He’s just such a well-intentioned guy,” Kraft said of Gronk. “He’s a lot of fun, and I’ve never seen Gronk, in all the time with us, ever say or do anything that had a negative overtone. He’s always out there. When you’re building a team atmosphere with people with different backgrounds and different places and it’s a physical game, having someone like Gronk in the system is uplifting, especially if he’s on the field all the time.”
Gronkowski was moving well at the Play 60 event, and even ran through a couple drills with Julian Edelman at the Foxboro elementary school.
