FOXBORO -- The Patriots will take to the practice field for the first training camp session Thursday morning and for the first time in nine seasons Rob Gronkowski will not be present.
The tight end officially announced his retirement this offseason, although ever since there's been speculation that he will come back at some point during the 2019 season. This gained even more steam when Gronkowski and Tom Brady worked out together at UCLA recently.
If the tight end did decide to come back, his teammates would have no problem with it at all.
"With open arms I'm sure," Devin McCourty said Wednesday. "As players we don't have time to think about that. At the end of the day he'll do what's best for him. Anybody that comes into this locker room is welcomed with open arms. Whether it's returning from retirement or from your eighth team, it doesn't matter. We accept all guys on this team. We took my brother in last year. He struggled for nine years in the NFL. You talk about a guy like Gronk coming back, I think that'd be a lot easier."
McCourty came into the league with Gronkowski as rookies in 2010 and he said how happy he was that he was able to leave the game on his terms.
"He was a huge part of the organization for nine years. I got to come in with him as a rookie and go through a lot together. We'll see how it goes. The one thing that's consistent is change," he said. "I'm excited going into this year. He looks like he's having an awesome time on Instagram. ... I'm really happy for him being able to have a great career and leave on his own terms. We'll see how it works out for us."
Still, Gronkowski will be nearly impossible to replace -- both on and off the field.
"You have to play with who is out here," running back James White said. "We have a lot of talented guys in this locker room. We just have to put the work in. Everyone finds a role. We have a great offensive coordinator, a great head coach. They will put people in the right places so we can go out there and succeed.
"There's only one Gronk. You can't replace that personality."
The Patriots depth chart at tight end has Benjamin Watson, Matt LaCosse, Lance Kendricks, Stephen Anderson, Ryan Izzo and Andrew Beck.
