Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is coming off of a nightmarish 2023 campaign.
He began the season dealing with a calf issue that persisted over the first several weeks and clearly inhibited his play early on. Then, just as Burrow was finding his groove, he suffered a wrist injury in Week 11 that knocked him out for the remainder of the season.
Burrow had to undergo surgery to repair the injury, but he seems to be on track to make a full recovery by the start of the 2024 campaign.
Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher provided an injury update on Burrow this week, saying that while the team is monitoring Burrow, it isn’t being too specific about it.
“We designed the whole thing to stay within the constraints of where the medical people think he should be and where he wants to be right now,” Pitcher said, via Geoff Hobson of the Bengals’ official team website. “Nobody is sitting there with a special pitch counter. But we’ve been smart how we put it together.”
Pitcher added that Burrow is looing good.
“Really happy. He’s got all his range and power,” he said.
In 10 games last season, Burrow threw for 2,309 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66.8 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 91.
The 27-year-old, who played his collegiate football at LSU, was selected by Cincinnati with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Burrow’s rookie campaign was abbreviated to 10 games due to a devastating knee injury, but the following year, he totaled 4,611 yards, 34 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while completing a league-high 70.4 percent of his throws and registering a 108.3 passer rating. Most importantly, he led the Bengals all the way to the Super Bowl, where they fell to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Ames, Ia. native then made his first Pro Bowl appearance in 2022 after finishing with 4,475 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 picks while completing 68.3 percent of his passes and recording a passer rating of 100.8.
Cincinnati managed to go 9-8 in spite of Burrow’s injury in 2023, but it failed to make the playoffs.
With Joe Burrow on the mend, the Bengals are once again considered one of the top contenders to dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC.
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