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Thread: Rob Gronkowski
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01-17-2013, 02:32 PM #13Rookie Poster
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
A few points in response:
1. How do we know for sure Ozzie took Gronk off the board? The fact that the Patriots jumped ahead of the Ravens to take Gronk plus the fact that the Ravens drafted Dickson and Pitta soon thereafter suggests that Gronk was likely very much in play for the Ravens in Round 2.
2. As noted in numerous other posts, what does a chronic back injury have to do with current freak forearm injuries?
3. If Gronk never plays another NFL down, his performance to date makes him well worth the second round pick used on him.
4. Using Gronk's current injury as an excuse to pat Newsome on the back makes zero sense given that Newsome immediately followed up the Gronk pick by drafting a narcoleptic with knee problems who is already out of the NFL.
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01-17-2013, 02:34 PM #14Legendary RSR Poster
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
Not sure if we was on the board or not for the RAVENS. But he does have a degenative back problem, Stenosis I beleive made teams wary. But his back has been fine thus far.
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01-17-2013, 03:45 PM #16
Re: Rob Gronkowski
I agree with this analysis. Gronk is as impossible a match up as there is in the league and the Pats were wise to select him. The back may shorten him career eventually but his production has been impressive. The Ravens caught a break not having to deal with him in this game.
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
Exactly.
Gronk had a history of injuries with his back missing much time in college. Bellicheat took a chance on him and it paid off
until he missed the SB last year when Pollard ruined him and now again this year but these aren't back injuries but
he misses the most important games nontheless.
Meanwhile Pitta and Dickson who aren't as flashy but just as deadly seldom miss a beat. Both played in Denver and Pitta impacted the Denver game and will this game.
They were safe steady picks.Last edited by AirFlacco; 01-17-2013 at 05:38 PM.
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01-17-2013, 05:55 PM #19iggyman555 Guest
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
I don't think we know for sure that they did.
There was a Sun story by Jamison Hensley leading up to the 2010 draft that talked about him being on their radar, but the focus of the piece was his injury questions (along with others who they thought might be there, namely Demarius Thomas
Perhaps the most difficult medical case is Gronkowski, the Arizona tight end who is considered the Ravens' dark horse pick.
Gronkowski missed the 2009 season following back surgery to shave off a disk that was sticking out and onto his spinal cord. Needing six months to recover, he didn't participate at the combine.
NFLDraftScout.com recently reported that an NFL scout had confirmed that Gronkowski has been "red-flagged" by teams due to stenosis, a narrowing of the spine that can cause numbness and leave a person prone to paralysis.
His agent denied the report.
"Every team I have talked to says there are no concerns about his back," agent Drew Rosenhaus said. "He passed his physical at the combine. There are no red flags on him. He is ready to go. The back is not a factor. There's no issue."
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"Ozzie has made a living drafting players with injuries," one insider told The Sporting News. "If Demaryius Thomas or Rob Gronkowski are sitting there, they may not get past Baltimore."
I don't know that anyone ever said the Ravens had taken Gronkowski off their board, but stories like this did appear saying teams had done so.
The player I didn't like in that draft that everyone else did was Dez Bryant. A lot of people still think he was Ozzie's big miss and he should have traded up so Dallas could not leapfrog them and take him.
Thomas went 21, Gresham 22, and Bryant 24. The Ravens, sitting at 25, traded out with Denver who took Tebow with the 25th pick.
Bad move in the sense that Kindle was the guy they took at 43, one pick after New England took Gronkowski at 42. Then they missed on Cody with their other second round pick. But they did get Dickson and Pitta with the extra picks from trading with Denver, so missing out on Gronkowski hasn't been all that damaging.
In an ideal world, though, they just take Gronkowsi at 25. And the Kindle drama would not have ever transpired for them.
While Hensley never came out and said he was off their board, other reports very clearly said he was. For instance, a year later on NFL.com Albert Breer wrote a piece where he praised the Pats up and down for the pick, and in which he wrote,
Rob Gronkowski, just tied the NFL single-season record for touchdown catches by a tight end (13) and looks like a 22-year-old Jason Witten who will be a matchup nightmare for defense for the next decade. An examination shows how being all-in on a player can pay off:
» The background: The Patriots had the 44th pick in the 2010 draft, having already taken Devin McCourty at the bottom of the first round, and were targeting Gronkowski. Afraid Baltimore might take him with the 43rd pick, the Patriots called the Raiders, and gave them a sixth-round pick to move up two spots, leapfrog the Ravens, and grab Gronkowski.
» The twist: The Ravens weren't going to take Gronkowski. The Patriots were right that the Ravens were looking for tight ends (they took Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta later in the draft), but because of his back injury, Baltimore had taken Gronkowski off its board, like many other teams did.
» The lesson: The Patriots did the right thing by being aggressive to get Gronkowski, without question. That sixth-round pick sent to Oakland wound up being Arizona State linebacker Travis Goethel, a spot special teamer as a rookie in 2010 who's spent this season on injured reserve.Last edited by Shas; 01-17-2013 at 06:25 PM.
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01-17-2013, 06:17 PM #21Regular 1st Stringer
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
Even if Gronk is in and out of the lineup for a few years I think they'll have gotten their money's worth. He's a mismatch on everyone when he's in the game and then they can safely fall back to Hernandez who's pretty good when he gets injured.
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01-17-2013, 06:18 PM #22iggyman555 Guest
Re: Rob Gronkowski
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Re: Rob Gronkowski
Yeah I don't think he was ever off our board, just the Pats jumped up and took him before we could. I'd bet anything that if the Pats didn't do that we would've taken him. Who knows what the rest of the draft would've looked like as I doubt we get Pitta and Dickson, well maybe they still pick up Pitta dunno. Could you imagine drafting Gronk AND Pitta? I'd take just those 2 picks and leave everything else out there, Kindle, Cody, Dickson, etc....
Just for theory if we took Gronk at 25. Never traded out odd's are we'd still have Cody and Pitta. Dickson and Kindle would've been the casulties all else being equal. Ah but hindsight and all that.
Hand down our worst draft ever. Pitta excluded.
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