Injury updates for tight ends Rob Gronkowski, Zach Ertz, Julius Thomas

Brad Pinkerton

Injury updates for tight ends Rob Gronkowski, Zach Ertz, Julius Thomas image

Will Rob Gronkowski play in Week 2? That's going to be a popular question all week. Good luck getting a straight answer out of Bill Belichick and the Patriots. 

MORE: Top waiver-wire pickups

Among other popular questions: "What hurts Zach Ertz?," and "Wait, Julius Thomas is hurt again?!?" Yep, let's take a look at the latest injury updates for these key fantasy tight ends to help get your lineups in order for Week 2.  

Will Rob Gronkowski play Week 2? 

Answer: No one knows but Bill Belichick. All things considered, Gronk's fantasy owners got lucky in Week 1. With the Patriots having a road trip to Arizona for Sunday Night Football, they just left Gronk behind in Foxboro. If the Patriots had a home game to open the season, Gronk's fantasy owners likely would have been blindsided by a surprise inactive with few replacement options left to play. 

Although the Pats are at home this week and can play mind games with their game-time decisions, the good news is that the game against Miami is at 1 p.m. ET, so fantasy owners will have time to react. Our best guess -- and it's just that , a guess -- is that Gronk plays at least limited snaps in Week 2. Just make sure you keep your TE2 around just in case. 

WEEK 2 RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | Defense | Kicker

Zach Ertz injury update 

Potentially bad news for Zach Ertz and his fantasy owners: Eagles coach Doug Pederson is calling the tight end "week-to-week" with a rib displacement near his collarbone. The good news is that the rib is not fractured, but Pederson also said Ertz isn't able to play through the injury. Ertz owners should be prepared to miss him in Week 2 at the very least. We have a few TE pickup suggestions in this week's Waiver Wire. 

Is Julius Thomas hurt? 

Yep. Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said Julius Thomas sprained his ankle against the Packers, though the injury wasn't apparent and he played 56 of 74 snaps. Still, Thomas has a long history of ankle problems (and injuries in general), so this is a concern heading into Week 2 against the Chargers. Stay tuned for updates and start scanning the waiver wire for Week 2 sleepers just in case. 

Brad Pinkerton