PATRIOTS: Gronkowski says it’s ‘good to get the wheels turning’

While the two sides are said to be working on a new deal, five-time Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski says his concern lies with preparing for the upcoming NFL season. Gronkowski looked sharp during the team’s first training camp practice on Thursday.

FOXBORO – Rob Gronkowski said it was “good to get the wheels turning” following the Patriots’ first training camp practice.

The five-time Pro Bowl tight end added that he never considered applying the brakes this year.

“It hasn’t even came close to considering that. Not even one bit,” Gronkowski answered when asked Thursday if he’d entertained any thoughts of holding out. “What I can do, though, is keep preparing, keep showing up every day, keep doing what I’ve got to do to get better.”

Where Gronkowski is concerned, there are those who will tell you no tight end in NFL history has ever done it better than he has since he entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick out of Arizona in 2010.

Currently working on the next-to-last year of a contract that will pay him $8 million in base salary this season, it’s been widely reported that a reworking of his deal has been a topic of much discussion between the Patriots and Gronkowski’s representatives this offseason. During last month’s mandatory minicamp – the lone offseason team activity Gronkowski chose to attend this year (he skipped organized team activities) – the nine-year veteran answered “who wouldn’t” when asked if he’d like to see another a new deal reached.

To this point, though, no new agreement has been reached.

“There’s one thing I can do, there’s one thing I can worry about,” Gronkowski said Thursday, “and there’s one thing that I can control and that’s myself, that’s my play, that’s me going out there doing what I’ve got to do to help the team.”

Toward that end, Gronkowski did plenty once again in 2017, leading the team in receptions (with 69), receiving yards (1,084) and touchdowns (eight). Beyond Gronkowski, the Patriots got little production out of the tight end position in the passing game – 10 receptions for just 86 yards and one TD from veteran Dwayne Allen in his first season in New England, four catches for 42 yards from rookie Jacob Hollister.

Now Gronkowski returns to a team that has seen changes in the receiving game. Three of the Patriots’ top six receivers in 2017 gone: Wide receiver Brandin Cooks (65 receptions for 1,082 yards and seven TDs last season) being dealt to the Los Angeles Rams during the offseason, clutch wideout Danny Amendola (61 catches for 659 yards and two TDs last year) moving to Miami as an unrestricted free agent and Dion Lewis (32 catches for 214 yards and three TDs out of the backfield in 2017) signing with Tennessee as an unrestricted free agent.

Beyond all that, after missing all of last year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, wide receiver Julian Edelman, who led the team in receptions in 2013, 2014 and 2016, must sit out the first four games of the upcoming season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

So, in light of all of that, does Gronkowski feel added pressure heading into 2018?

“There’s been pressure ever since I got here and it’s to do a good job,” said Gronkowski, who along with longtime batterymate Tom Brady looked sharp Thursday. “So whatever my job is asked to do, whatever I get asked to do, I’ve got to go out there no matter what it is and perform to the best of my abilities to do what the coaches ask.”

Asked the biggest thing he’d learned about himself this offseason, Gronkowski said: “That I love the game of football. I said it earlier this summer, the game of football is amazing to play, and I'll repeat it again. ... What I learned is how to keep feeling good and keep going and keep enjoying the game of football.”