Rob Gronkowski

Week 12 at New York Jets

The Patriots come off the bye week motivated to not lose consecutive games, and their implied team total reflects that. New England is tied for the second most expected points on the Sunday-Monday slate at 28.5 points. Rob Gronkowski looks poised to return from back and ankle injuries, with the extra rest from the bye week, but the Jets are top 10 in aFPA to TEs. Regardless, we imagine few fantasy teams have a better option to start at TE than Gronk on their rosters. Gronk did score twice in his last match-up against this team a year ago and still had seven or more targets in three of his last four games this season. Few have the weekly ceiling at TE that Gronk does, which keeps him among the top five TE options in Week 12.

Week 8 vs. Green Bay Packers

In a showdown between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers in Week 9, expect a lot of points. New England has a monster implied team total of 31.5 points, highest of the week. It just hasn't happened for Gronk though since Week 1. First, he battled an ankle issue, and now he's dealing with back problems. He was downgraded from limited Wednesday to DNP on Thursday, a bad sign for his availability Sunday. If he plays, the landscape of the TE position dictates that you have to keep starting him, but given the injury report, be prepared to find another option.

Week 6 vs. Kansas City Chiefs

The Patriots have the highest implied team total of Week 6 at 31.5 points. The Chiefs are bottom five in the league in aFPA to TEs. Gronk looked good in Week 5 after dealing with ankle issues. He played 91 percent of snaps a week after only playing 67 percent. He's still been limited in practice this week, but ten days between games should certainly help. On the field, seven targets in Week 5 with Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon in the mix were also encouraging. Be patient. The touchdowns should come. The tight end position is so thin anyway that you'd be crazy not to keep starting Gronk in Week 6.