Former LSU Quarterback Joe Burrow Gives Update Says Knee is 85%, Talks Reconnecting With Ja'Marr Chase

As one of the leaders of the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Burrow wanted to be at OTA's to interact with his new and old teammates. Burrow knows better than most the importance of building that chemistry with the offense as soon as possible.

With the second year NFL quarterback still rehabbing his knee, the fact that he showed up in a jersey and helmet ready for work is something he hopes inspires his teammates around him. At the moment, there isn't much Burrow can't do with that knee that was surgically repaired six and a half months ago.

He's throwing, lifting and continuing to build strength in that left knee, which he called 85% on Tuesday when meeting with reporters.

"I didn't want to just not show up and do my own thing, I'm at the point where even if I wasn't able to do everything, I would still wanna be here and help communicate," Burrow said. "We have a lot of new faces on the team that need to see me there and see me working so it was really important."

For Burrow, the next big hurdle to climb is being cleared for contact, which is something that's expected to happen at the nine month mark. He admits that there are some days where he wakes up and can't do as much in terms of workouts but other days where he can push the knee a little bit more.

"Still gotta be patient, can't push too hard. It's basically at this point how it feels. There's good days and bad days, it's still sore some days and you'll take it a little easier but we have a good plan," Burrow said. "Hopefully I should be a full go in camp and then be cleared to play."

It helps Burrow that there are also some familiar faces from his LSU days, including Ja'Marr Chase, Tyler Shelvin and Thaddeus Moss. Chase was the Bengals first round pick from last month's draft while Shelvin was a fourth round pick at defensive tackle.

Just like back on the Bayou 9⃣➡️1⃣@JoeyB | @Real10jayy__ pic.twitter.com/XY2ZAHeM5I
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) May 25, 2021

Burrow was seen getting in some work during the portion of practice open to the Cincinnati media, and can be seen throwing with Chase. He called getting the connection down with his former LSU receiver just like riding a bike, saying it came back instantly.

"I was excited. Obviously me and Ja'Marr have a good rapport, good friends, good teammates. I think he's gonna bring some explosiveness to our offense, he's tough to tackle," Burrow said. "You get the ball in his hands, corners are going to have a tough time tackling him and then he can take the top off the defense. We have some great weapons and gotta utilize him properly.

"Yeah we've got a lot of the guys on the team that I played with, we just keep adding LSU guys. It's fun to see familiar faces for sure."

Burrow has been through plenty in his young career but he's continuing to add muscle, his velocity has increased and he feels really comfortable with the direction the offense is headed.

"It's more adversity than I've ever had in my career. I've had a lot of it I've had to overcome and I've been blessed with all of the great people around me who've helped me through all of the adversity," Burrow said.