Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Face it. You want him, but you don’t want to want him.
Am I right?
There aren’t many more polarizing players in fantasy football than tight end Rob Gronkowski. We all know how incredibly productive he is when on the field, but the problem is, as of late, he hasn’t been on the field a whole lot. But he’s missed 14 games over the last three seasons, and has now undergone a whopping eight career surgeries. After tearing both his ACL and MCL in Week 14, Gronk’s status for Week 1 is still in the air, making him a bit of a risk to draft in fantasy leagues. Not to mention, even if he does suit up for Week 1, you can’t overlook how more prone to injury he is than many other players. In today’s game, you can’t hit high anymore, and with a huge guy like Gronk, defenders have to go low. Gronkowski, for as good as he is, also plays a bit recklessly, throwing his body around, etc.
But when he hits, it’s the lottery.
In 50 career regular season games, Gronkowski has scored an insane 42 touchdowns. 42. In 50 games. You simply cannot deny that type of production, which is why he is coming off the board in the third round of fantasy drafts. And sure, he wasn’t on the field a whole lot last year, but when he was, he produced like his typical, elite self. During the six full games he played last season, Gronkowski averaged 6.1 catches, 10.3 targets and scored four touchdowns. He also averaged almost 12 fantasy points per game. In the third round, I really don’t mind grabbing Gronkowski, especially if you are taking the Zero-RB approach. Of course, I’d definitely look to pair him with another high-upside tight end like Zach Ertz or Charles Clay to back yourself up. But Gronkowski could very well be the biggest game-changer in all of fantasy football right now. Tom Brady absolutely relies on him at this point in his career, sporting a completion percentage of 59 and a 26-to-11 touchdown-to-interception ratio with him off the field.
Gronk smash.
Adam Pfeifer is a lead fantasy sports writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
