Familiar pain for Gronk owners

WELCOME to what we call, The Gronk Chronicles.

This is where we show you we’re not above the proverbial “I told you so.” We told you not to take a tight end early. We advised against investing a second-round pick in Rob Gronkowski, or a third-round pick in Jordan Reed, or a fifth-rounder on Tyler Eifert.

You can lead a horse to water ... yada, yada, yada ... but ultimately, it’s your team and the final decisions are made by you. But some of you didn’t listen, and now you’re running back to be rescued from a problem we spent months trying to help you avoid.

When the Patriots declared Gronk inactive for Thursday night, it marked the third week of this short season in which he failed to deliver on his draft price. He did have two weeks with at least 85 yards and a touchdown and even had a 100-yard effort once, but even that game he left injured. The rest of the time, he has been outscored by numerous tight ends who either were late-round picks or waiver claims. Now, looking ahead, we have questions about his health again.

When the top tier at a position is so thin and so marred by injuries, it makes more sense to stream in players with better matchups. Looking at the rest of Week 5, you’ll find a number of tight ends who will outproduce the top tier. Austin Sefer ian-Jen k ins has a soft matchup — Cleveland bleeds points to the tight end position. Zach

Miller should be leaned on heavily by rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky in a surprisingly favorable match-up with Minnesota. And don’t sleep on Hunter Henry this week, because the Giants struggle mightily here as well.

Of course there will be weeks in which Gronk pays off. But how many will there be? The investment you made deserves a full 16 weeks, and that is not something he can deliver. Learn the lesson, set your sights lower at tight end and spare yourself another chapter of The Gronk Chronicles.