Day 51: No Infection for Gronk... Phew! But Now Back Surgery? What?

Is it just me or is Rob Gronkowski turning into a baseball player? You know, those guys who can't take a shower without hurting something? Yeah, yeah... I get that he's a balls to the wall, smash-mouth type of football player who throws caution to the wind but holy cow, Gronk... or should I call you Porcelain?

Gronkowski underwent the fourth surgery on his left forearm to determine whether or not there was an infection around where the plate is attached. It's simple math: infection = very bad, no infection = good. Thankfully for the Patriots, yesterday's surgery revealed the area was infection-free and a new plate was installed. Phew! Now for the recovery and rehab which should take 8-10 weeks. So if everything goes ok, he should be ready to don the shoulder pads in late July, right?

Whoa! Hold you horses there, Tonto. There's a little more to this story.

It appears that the 24-year-old tight end has been battling a disc problem in his back for the past year and recently underwent an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. In 2009, he underwent back surgery for this same disc problem—an injury that hurt his draft position. Oh dear. The doctor's will decide in another month whether surgery is necessary to remove the disc.

If Gronk does have this surgery, which all signs are pointing to, the recovery time, combined with the arm surgery, is approximately four months, and that's without any setbacks. Do the math, folks. That brings us to September and the start of the football season. Then it's all Coach Belichick's decision whether or not to place him on the PUP list and leave the Pats without their star tight end for the first six weeks of the season.

So this should be interesting.

[For more in depth coverage of this story, visit the Boston Herald.]