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Back injuries are notoriously tricky, so when the Patriots announced in December that Rob Gronkowski would miss the remainder of the 2016 season after back surgery, it was easy to panic. Would that injury rob him of the chance to make his case as the game’s greatest tight end?

That still remains to be seen. But on Friday, good news emerged in the form of a video. In that video, Gronkowski is seen demonstrating a back workout.

I’m not a doctor, but he looks pretty healthy -- just like he did at the Super Bowl parade.

Of course, TRX (the thing he’s doing above) is a bit different than playing football. But it still should be regarded as an encouraging sign for Patriots fans. At the very least, it’s certainly not a bad sign.

In an injury-plagued 2016 season (he appeared in eight games), Gronkowski caught 25 passes for 540 yards and three touchdowns. Despite playing in just 88 of a possible 112 games since entering the league in 2010, Gronkowski is second among all tight ends in receiving yards (6,095) and first in touchdowns (68). He has averaged 0.77 receiving touchdowns per game. Tony Gonzalez, often regarded as the greatest tight end of all time, averaged 0.41 touchdowns per game in his career.

So, Gronkowski’s health is really the only thing holding him back from earning the “greatest of all time” label.

Unfortunately for Gronkowski, back injuries aren’t new to him. In 2013, Gronk missed the first six weeks due to offseason back surgery. And last year, he said that he considered retiring from football in college after suffering a serious back injury while lifting weights.