Gronk set for surgery Thursday: Dr. James Andrews presiding

After waiting a month to allow his torn MCL to heal naturally, Rob Gronkowski will finally go under the knife to repair his torn ACL.

I'm told Gronk is having his knee surgery on Thursday. Dr. James Andrews performing
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) January 7, 2014

The surgery comes about 6 1/2 months before the projected mid to late July start of training camp. Once again, Gronk will be a likely candidate to begin next season on the physically unable to perform list. This will be Gronk's fifth surgery in the past 14 months, following three procedures on his broken, re-broken and infected forearm and another on his back.

Profootballtalk's Mike Florio notes an interesting factoid: Thursday will mark the exact one year anniversary of Dr. Andrews' reconstructive knee surgery on Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. If that isn't a cryptic warning against rushing Gronk back to the field too soon, I don't know what is.