New England Patriots

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Chargers agreed Saturday to a two-year deal with aging star pass rusher Dwight Freeney that could be worth $13.35 million.The deal to bring Freeney to the Chargers came four days after outside linebacker Melvin Ingram tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a padless practice.The addition of Freeney also helps cushion the loss of outside linebackers Antwan Barnes and Shaun Phillips to free agency.Freeney is 33 and entering his 12th season. He will make $5.25 million this season.

James Walker, who covers the AFC East for ESPN.com, was in Los Angeles for this year's NFL Players Association's Rookie Premiere and caught up with Patriots second-round draft choice Aaron Dobson. One question that Walker asked Dobson was on his penchant for making tough, one-handed receptions. "It’s all instinct," Dobson tells Walker. "I’m just going for the ball and I attack the ball very well. That’s how it happens. I can bring them in with one hand and I can catch with two hands.

The Patriots will play just once on "Monday Night Football" during the 2013 season, and the game comes on the heels of their Week 10 bye. It will take place in Charlotte against the Carolina Panthers, who feature one of the most exciting young players in football, quarterback Cam Newton. The teams have something of a history after a memorable meeting in Super Bowl XXXVIII, but while the Patriots have continued their success since that time, the Panthers took a nosedive in the standings and have had to rebuild the franchise.

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will have a fourth surgery on his left forearm in the coming days, to determine if the infection that has plagued it over the past couple of months is finally gone and if that is the case, to again replace the plate that has been placed over his ulna.

A day after the Globe reported that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will have a fourth surgery on his left arm — to replace a plate — USA Today reported he also may need back surgery.

The New England Patriots have announced they signed their first draft pick of the 2013 draft, LB Jamie Collins. The Patriots traded out of the first round and added two second round draft picks, and with their first second round pick they took Collins. A linebacker from Southern Mississippi. Collins moved from safety to linebacker during his time at Southern Miss, and will make a great cover linebacker, which is something the Patriots needed desperately heading into the draft. Collins was taken with the 52nd pick overall. With the rookie salary system his deal has a total value of $3.76 million with a signing bonus of $1.1 million.

Gronkowski recently underwent an MRI on his back to check on a disk issue from last season according to ESPN, but the injury isn’t consider serious. Gronkowski will see noted spine specialist Robert Watkins sometime after his fourth forearm surgery. If he needs surgery on his back it will happen during his 10 week recovery time for his left arm. This disk injury is not related to the disk problem that required a procedure in 2009, the source said, and it is unknown what caused this issue and when it was discovered.

(Mark L. Baer/USA Today Sports) Throughout the offseason, one of the biggest concerns for the New England Patriots has been whether or not Rob Gronkowski would be ready to go before the start of the regular season as he’s been having complications from a broken forearm. In fact, there was a chance this week that Gronkowski may need a fourth surgery on his arm, but it also appears he may be in for another big surgery as well on his back. One of the top New England Patriots rumors this week unfortunately involves Gronkowski and how he will most likely need back surgery once everything with his forearm is squared away. It was one thing for the Patriots to have to deal with Gronkowski’s forearm, but if he’s going to need to have surgery on his back as well–that just makes things even more complicated for the 2013 season. As bad as it sounds, the chances of Gronkowski being able to suit up for Week 1 doesn’t sound promising and it will be interesting to see what type of impact this has on New England’s passing game. It’s no secret Gronkowski is arguably the most dangerous pass-catching tight end in the league and having him in the lineup always gave the Patriots an advantage on offense–which means these surgeries could be costly. Still, the Patriots will have enough weapons without Gronkowski, but if they’re going to compete with the best in the AFC–they’ll need their star tight end back as quickly as possible. “Like” Dan Parzych on Facebook Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter @DanParzych

There’s more surgery news with respect to Rob Gronkowski, and it’s not particularly encouraging. It appears along with the forearm surgery the Patriots tight end is expected to undergo next week, back surgery might also be in Gronk’s future.

Rob Gronkowski. (AP) In the wake of the news that Rob Gronkowski could be going under the knife for a back issue — in addition to his monthly series of offseason surgeries on his left forearm — here are five thoughts about what that means for him and the team, and what sort of future he might have in the NFL. 1. Back in late February, I talked with noted sports injury expert Will Carroll about the Patriots, and specifically Gronkowski’s health situation. It’s important to remember this was at the start of the offseason — before the multiple offseason arm surgeries and reported need for back surgery. (Back to a simpler time, when it was just his forearm, ankle and a disk problem in his back that were an issue.) But what he said was really interesting. He talked about how this was just part of who Gronkowski is. (Click here to listen to the entire podcast.) “I don’t think at some point when you take a look at players, the injury-prone tag is thrown out a little too easily. But with a player like Gronkowski who has had multiple problems … 20 years from now, we’re probably going to take a little swab of their cheek at the combine and say, ‘Huh, well, looks like he just can’t handle this. He’s going to end up with these kinds of injuries. We don’t have that now — we have to do it in retrospect. To me, when we see these multiple system failures, it is something that [Dr. James Andrews] calls a ‘tissue issue.’ There’s probably some genetic issue to it. Some things can hold up better than others. Certainly, he’s talented. Certainly, he’s really, really talented. But I do think he’s going to have to deal with these injuries throughout his career. And I don’t think it’s going to be a very long one. He could have seven, eight really, good, productive years that will really help the Patriots. But they’re going to have to deal with these sorts of injuries all along that time frame.” How much of that is in how he plays? “I think that’s part of it. Maybe he could adjust. I don’t think he adjusts much about his life. And that’s OK. He’s very good at what he does, especially with Aaron Hernandez there. They make a very good pair, and Tom Brady knows how to use the two of them and they fit very well into that offense. I’m not sure he needs to. I’m not even sure it would make that much difference. None of these things are him wearing down. None of these things are fatigued-based injuries. These are just … some of them are football injuries, and some of them are … I just don’t think his body holds up as well as some others. And again, that’s no fault of his own. I suppose we could take a look at his parents a little bit. But there’s not much you can do with that. You have to take him for who he is, both on and off the field.” 2. Gronkowski has been dogged by injury questions all he way back to college, where he had real back problems that caused him to sit out a season while at Arizona, and that was a big reason the Patriots were able to find him in the second round in 2010. It’s absolutely absurd in retrospect, but he went 42nd overall — selected after guys like Tim Tebow, Dez Bryant and Jermaine Gresham — because in large part because teams were scared away by a terrifying injury history. However, It’s important to remember that this issue is reportedly different than the problem he suffered in college. That was a spine issue (there was one report that he suffered from spinal stenosis, one that was roundly rejected by his agent Drew Rosenhaus), while this is a disk issue. When you talk to people around the league, there’s a distinct good news/bad news element to this: it’s good because it’s a sign that the spinal issue is not recurring, but it’s bad that it’s another area of the back he has to worry about going forward. (In the wake of Friday’s news, it’s also worth mentioning that he’s becoming a walking ad for WebMD. In the last five years, it’s been two different back issues, multiple bre