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As wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell’s appearance at Monday’s Patriots practice in full pads illustrates, it can be hard to know the severity of an injury at a point in the calendar when teams don’t have to submit injury reports.

That may make it hard to find out how much concern there should be about tight end Rob Gronkowski. According to multiple reports from Patriots practice, Gronkowski pulled up short while running a route during practice.

Gronkowski headed right for the sideline, where he removed his helmet and spoke to a trainer on the sideline. Gronkowski and the trainer then walked off the field, leaving no further update about his condition or what might have felt wrong to him while doing the drill.

Gronkowski hasn’t played in a preseason game since 2012, so any injury probably wouldn’t cause a change in the team’s plans for his activity level in the three games still on their exhibition schedule. If they have to change plans for games in September, it will be a far bigger deal.