Fantasy Football: Rob Gronkowski named a player to avoid

With the 2017 fantasy football season quickly approaching, one of the interesting players this season is New England Patriots tight end, Rob Gronkowski.

The 2017 fantasy football season is nearly here, and many experts are breaking down who to draft and who to avoid. Few will argue against New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski being the best in the NFL. When Gronkowski is healthy, he is truly an unstoppable force on the field. As a good blocker and receiver, Gronkowski has all the tools to make him elite.

However, injuries have slowed down Gronkowski a bit, as he has shown to be human after all. Last season, Gronkowski missed a good chunk of the regular season due to injury, and he likely hurt many fantasy owners that drafted him.

As the best tight end in fantasy football, Gronkowski was going in the first round in some drafts last season. Unfortunately, Gronkowski was only able to play in eight games last season, however, he was really good in those games. If not for missing half the season, Gronkowski would have likely totaled over 1,000 receiving yards.

Coming into the 2017 season, Gronkowski looks to be healthy and in great shape. As he looks to rebound from the injury-plagued season, many are targeting him in fantasy football this season. One of the people that won’t be targeting Gronkowski is fantasy expert Eric Karabell of ESPN.com.

Gronkowski made Karabell’s do not draft list. Here’s what he said about Gronkowski.

"As a result, Gronkowski is an annual staple of my “Do Not Draft” list, which of course hardly means I wouldn’t draft the player, but rather that I wouldn’t draft him at the spot I would need to in order to secure him — which remains in the second round. It’s an important distinction, but obviously, all people will presume that I don’t like the players discussed below, which is far from the truth."

While Karabell does admit that Gronkowski could be the top fantasy tight end, he is very nervous about the injury history. Considering Gronkowski is still going in most drafts in the second round, Karabell doesn’t like the value.

Next: 5 must-draft Patriots in fantasy football

Whether or not you draft Gronkowski will likely come down to if you believe that he will stay healthy. If you do think so, then Gronkowski has the ability to perform like a first round talent for you in fantasy football.