Gronk: Garoppolo “looks great” during offseason workouts.
The New England Patriots will be without quarterback Tom Brady for the first four games of the 2016-17 season, as he finally serves his suspension for ‘Deflate Gate’. Regardless if Brady is somehow able to again wiggle his way out of this punishment and keep America’s favorite sports story alive and well, backup Jimmy Garoppolo will be ready to go, if given the opportunity.
“You can see a huge development over the last two years in the way he handles the offense now,” Rob Gronkowski told Christopher Price of WEEI. “He’s doing a great job going out there, listening to coaches and just working together with the whole team.”
The Patriots drafted Garoppolo in the second round in 2014 and since groomed him to become the successor of the now 38-year old Brady. However, arguably the greatest to ever play the position is seemingly aging like a fine wine, keeping his backup firmly planted on the bench.
The former Eastern Illinois Panther has thrown just 31 career passes, completing 20 of those attempts with one touchdown. But again, Gronk is not worried about the quarterback position in the slightest adding, “he looks pretty good. No, he looks great. He’s always coming out with a competitive edge, his arm looks strong. His football knowledge, you don’t have to talk about it, it’s second to none. He looks very sharp.”
While it seems Gronkowski is preparing for a second career as an NFL scout, it might be a little too early to fall for the hype of a Brady backup with the recent failure of Ryan Mallet serving as a cautionary tale.
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