Joe Burrow's Back: Top Takeaways From His Return to Cincinnati Bengals Practice

The 27-year-old is participating in offseason workouts despite undergoing wrist surgery in November.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow practices during an offseason workout at the practice / Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow practiced on Tuesday in front of a handful of media members, coaches and the majority of his teammates. After the session, he met with the media for the first time since January.

The 27-year-old shared thoughts about his season-ending wrist injury, where he's at in his recovery and his mindset going into the 2024 season.

Here are our top takeaways from the nearly 20 minute media session:

Biggest Challenge

Burrow has recovered from plenty of other injuries throughout his football career, but his wrist injury was unique. He's the only known NFL quarterback to suffer such a complicated injury. Not only did he need surgery, but he's one of the only football players that suffered a torn scapholunate ligament and he did it in his throwing wrist.

"I definitely was kind of flying blind during throughout the beginning of the rehab process, because I hadn't found any quarterbacks that had had this before," Burrow said. "The guys that I have talked to have been offensive linemen and defensive linemen, linebackers that didn't have to have that wrist mobility and the little intricacies of the wrist movement like I do. Nick (Cosgray) and Matt (Summers) have really done a good job of making sure I get that motion back, and our rehab has been lights out, so I've been excited about that. I'm excited about where I'm at."

What's been the most challenging part of the past few months?

"The uncertainty. Whenever you have an injury to your throwing side, you're never quite sure how it's gonna turn out at the end," Burrow said. "I'm in a good spot. I'm happy with where I'm at, and I'm gonna continue to get better."

Learning From the Past

It's no secret that Burrow has played through his fair share of aches and pains. That won't change this season, but it might change his approach in training camp.

He was open about how he's pushed through issues in the past early in the process—even before the season.

"I'm growing and learning how to handle my body," Burrow said. "I think that's a continued process of learning when to push through something that you think maybe might be there and another day, you might not be feeling great and this muscle's a little tight and like, 'Hey, we got to take it easy today.' So that's something that I'm continuing to learn. I think that's part of growing as a player and as a pro and it's a continued process day-in and day-out."

He's going to be sore this offseason. There will be days where his wrist could be sore during training camp. Instead of pushing through, knowing when to dial it back is crucial as he continues to recover from a significant injury.

"The wrist has good days and bad days, just like the knee did," Burrow said. "We're still pretty early, we've still got a ways until the season, so we're going to make sure we give it the breaks that it needs. We're going to be smart about it, but on the days that I'm feeling good we're going to go."

Addicted to Growth

Burrow never lost motivation during this process. Why? He "addicted to getting better."

"My why is always just continuing that drive for greatness. Continuing that drive every day trying to improve you know, I'm addicted to getting better," Burrow said. "There's nothing like the feeling of getting better because that makes the day to day really worth it. Once you start to see the results of the work that you're putting in, it's there's nothing like that and so that's really what I'm striving for every day."

Burrow looks bigger and stronger than he was last season. He was explosive on play-action and bootleg passes during Tuesday's session. He's tweaked his diet and has clearly changed his workout regiment in hopes of becoming more durable.

"I'm eating more, I'm more dialed as far as nutrition and food schedule and eating when I need to so that's been a big area of emphasis for me and I've seen the results," he said. "I try to keep my mindset a day at a time. I think that's the best way you can handle situations like these. This has definitely been one of the most challenging parts of my life for the past several months but we're getting through it and continuing to improve mentally and physically every day. It's definitely a challenge and a process."

Final Thoughts

Burrow did everything Bengals fans could've hoped for on Tuesday. He looked like his normal self. Of course, we know he isn't all the way back.

He isn't cleared for contact, but he's trending in that direction. His accuracy, strength and command was evident throughout the practice session.

His goal is to be at his best in four months when the games count, but he looked pretty darn good on Tuesday, which is great news for him and even better news for the Bengals.

Joe Burrow ➡️ Mike Gesicki 🤝🏈#Bengals pic.twitter.com/crBkQpG2AO

— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) May 7, 2024

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