Belichick Stonewalls Gronkowski Questions At Patriots Minicamp
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tuesday was a beautiful day in New England. Never mind the nice weather; it was Day 1 of Patriots mandatory minicamp - and day 1 of Bill Belichick giving the media precisely nothing in the best ways possible.
The Patriots head coach faced a fresh pack of raised eyebrows Tuesday afternoon as All-World tight end Rob Gronkowski was not present at practice. Those who are hungry for speculation might want to say Gronk's absence is over his bargain of a contract. But, neither he nor Belichick are going to comment directly on that, nor should they have to.
Still, the question had to be asked. Where's Gronk? Why wasn't he on the field during practice?
"There are a lot of players that were not on the field," said Belichick. "They were doing other things." When asked if Gronk was expected at minicamp, he repeated: "All of our players are [expected to be here]. They're doing other things."
Whatever those "other things" are, Gronk was not doing them publicly, which was inevitably going to create more questions than answers. You can reasonably infer that Belichick's answers indicate that Gronk was somewhere at Gillette Stadium, but they are by no means a confirmation. Just another example of how he has the "non-answer answer" game down to a science.
On the bright side, fellow tight end Martellus Bennett had a productive one-on-one session with Tom Brady, and the Boston Herald's Jeff Howe described new Patriots receiver Chris Hogan as "the best receiver on the field" during practice. So even if there's a contract or injury issue with Gronk, this year the Patriots offense appears far better equipped to handle his potential absence better than ever.
No matter what is happening with Gronk and the Patriots, it's great to finally be able to talk about real football stuff - and mine some Belichickian gold.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
