Aaron Hernandez Injury: The Latest Buzz Surrounding New England Patriots TE

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has been out since leaving the team's Week 2 game with a left MCL sprain. After a two-week layoff, Hernandez returned to practice on Thursday and worked again on Friday.

Hernandez is expected to be active for today's matchup with the New York Jets, but he may not play a whole lot. An MCL sprain is typically a four-to-six week recovery process, so expecting the second-year tight end to be a full-time contributor after sitting out just a few weeks is probably a bad idea.

I fully expect the Patriots to ease the Florida product back into action, since they aren't exactly thin at the tight end spot. Fellow second-year guy Rob Gronkowski has established himself as one of the league's top tight ends, and in Hernandez's absence, he has only solidified his claim to that designation.

Hernandez was fantastic when healthy this year. He had 14 catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns through the first two weeks. He looked much more comfortable in the team's offense than he did a year ago, and clearly quarterback Tom Brady has a ton of trust in him.

In his four weeks thus far, Gronkowski has 18 catches for 296 yards and five touchdowns. While he hasn't seen the ridiculous number of balls thrown his way that Hernandez did during the first two weeks, the Arizona product has established himself as one of the best red-zone targets in the NFL.

With a guy like that already healthy, it'd be surprising to see the Patriots force Hernandez to do too much in his first week back. I don't expect him to see the field much against the New York Jets today.