Joe Burrow is arranging 7-on-7 workouts with Bengals teammates
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is dealing with something that most No. 1 picks don't have to worry about after being drafted.
Instead of getting acclimated to the NFL at team facilities, he's learning his new playbook at home and meeting with his teammates and coaches virtually due to COVID-19.
There are no in-person OTA's or minicamps scheduled. All 32 teams' facilities are closed.
Burrow may be stuck in Zoom meetings now, but he's hoping to see his teammates in-person soon. The 23-year-old wants Bengals players to get together for 7-on-7 drills according to safety Jessie Bates.
"A huge thing that kind of surprised me was Sam Hubbard hit me up asking 'when are guys gonna get back to Cincinnati?' And Joe, he's just so excited to get things started that he wants to run 7-on-7s," Bates said on the Rapsheet and Friends podcast. "That's just the mindset that the kid has, so I'm very excited."
Burrow has already exchanged messages with A.J. Green about working out together this offseason. It sounds like the rookie is hoping to get defensive players involved as he continues to prepare for his rookie year.
"The kid is a winner. He's very competitive," Bates said. "I think the leadership part [matters]. And again, the person that he is, I think that's a huge part of a player. I think he's a really good guy. [He] comes from a really good story."
Head coach Zac Taylor has embraced virtual meetings, but he admits nothing can replace working out in-person.
"I don't think you are ever going to replace the physical reps," Taylor said last week. "One of the things that you usually get to do in the offseason is you install and then you get to go on the field and physically do it and see how quickly the players can process that information in a 40-second play clock. You do miss that opportunity."
It sounds like Burrow is going to do everything he can to not only throw to his new wide receivers this offseason, but also do it against an NFL defense.
