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TAMPA, Fla – Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians thinks the Rob Gronkowski we see at training camp – the one Tom Brady drew out of a year-long retirement and persuaded his new team to trading for this offseason – is the same one that smashed countless NFL, Super Bowl, and playoff records five and six years ago.
“The back surgeries have healed. So he’s had a year of healing. It looks to me like five or six years ago,” Arians said Thursday.
The Arians playfully punched Gronkowski out of “Florida form”, saying on Monday: “The heat kicks him in the ass.” But he believes Gronkowski, who holds the record for most receptions and yards from a tight end in Super Bowl history, along with a number of other NFL and playoff records, has regained his health and his form.
“He doesn’t have a gigantic elbow pad. He moves. He runs fast again. He has excellent body control,” Arians said Thursday. “Some things – the stiffness that I saw at the end of his career with all the injuries – it looks like it’s gone.”
Gronkowski, who has spent much of his time away from football studying recovery and nutrition, feels it too, although there was a period of adjustment, and it shows up in training camp. He remains Brady’s go-to target, whether it’s throwing the ball in warm-ups or during the 11-on-11 tag team periods, where he’s been receiving a few deep passes from Brady and flashing in. the red zone.
“I feel great there,” said Gronkowski, who turned 31 in May. “My body feels great – that’s why I came back to the game, and that’s how I want to move. I want to move like I was then, no doubt about it. Why .. . would I want to come back to the game and move like crap? I’m here to move; I’m here to play; I’m here to block in the racing game; I’m here to make games in the game of past .
“Let me tell you, at the beginning, the first couple exercises, it was really a little weird,” Gronkowski said. “The game was really quick when I got back there for the first time; the defense felt really quick. And over time, over the days, I feel better about myself. stops increasing; the game slows down I’m starting to tackle more. But overall it’s going well, but I have so much more to work on and so much more to improve, but I’m really happy to be there , man. “
While Gronkowski’s injury history is concerning – he suffered forearm and spine fractures, a sprained ankle, and an ACL and MCL tear in his knee, all in 2011 – he doesn’t want to be put on an instant account. He eagerly greeted all of the camp representatives, although staff said they would be watching his representatives so that he was not too exhausted.
“I’ll play the whole game if I have to,” said Gronkowski. “I don’t see why that would be a problem; I’ve never played virtually every shot in my career. But if that’s not the whole game, if they take me out for a few shots, some rest. , I’m cool with the coaches game plan. “
“He’s done some really good things in training, and he’s running really well. We just have to make sure he does the right things and keep him a little bit confined,” said tight ends coach Rick Christophel, adding that Gronk was “meticulous”. the attention to detail has rubbed off on teammates OJ Howard, Cam Brate and Tanner Hudson.
As for this other teammate – Brady – Gronk believes that after 20 years in New England, the change of teams, scenery and coaching revived him.
“To my eyes, just looking at him, he looks refreshed; he looks ready to go, he looks ready to play every day, and he’s motivated every day, and that’s nice to see, ”said Gronkowski. “The way Tom works will never change; he just loves football. But I can definitely say he took on this new challenge.”
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