Like the other teams in the league, the New England Patriots are nearing the start of their offseason program. The involuntary workouts start from Monday for the team, however, when they get underway, two of the team’s best players will not be present for the offseason activities.
Going by the information from Adam Schefter from ESPN.com, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski will not be there for the team’s offseason program. Gronkowski will not be attending the first day of the voluntary workouts sessions. He is still considering whether he would be playing in 2018 but is still in communication terms with the team. On the other hand, Brady, who is currently traveling with his family, is not believed to be thinking about retiring and leaving the team.
Gronkowski has a base salary of $8 million for this year. He also has a $2, 50,000 workout bonus for which he will have to participate in 90% of New England’s offseason workout program. However, it is unclear whether Gronkowski is targeting or looking forward to more money or trade. It is possible that he is merely thinking about moving on after playing for eight seasons and suffering from plenty of injuries as well as surgeries.
New England has already lost several of its critical offensive players in this offseason as Brandin Cooks, Nate Solder, Dion Lewis, and Cameron Fleming Danny Amendola are the only ones now playing for the new team. Having to lose Gronkowski would obviously be a more significant blow to the team’s chances of winning.
Skipping the involuntary workouts does not necessarily mean that he would not be back, but it will be worrisome if he starts missing out on mandatory team activities. Rober Kraft, Patriots owner recently out-ruled the possibility of Gronkowski leaving the team and retiring by saying “it’s not even an issue for me” and explained that Gronkowski has been present at the Gillette Stadium recently, probably to work towards his recovering from injuries.
