Joe Burrow Shares Thoughts on Reinjury Risk Ahead of Probable Return vs. Ravens

Burrow’s expected to return vs. the Ravens on Thanksgiving after being out since Week 2 from a turf toe injury.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow doesn’t want to worry about re-aggravating his turf toe injury when returning to the field. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even though Bengals coach Zac Taylor hasn’t officially announced that Joe Burrow is starting on Thursday vs. the Ravens to mark his first play action since Week 2, all signs are leading to the quarterback making his return on Thanksgiving. Burrow himself even seemed to tease the decision.

Burrow suffered a grade 3 turf toe injury and underwent surgery after his Week 2 injury. He was originally predicted to return in December, but his recovery is ahead of schedule. So, of course, Burrow’s been asked a lot about whether he’s concerned about re-aggravating his injury and causing more harm to his body. It's a salient question, especially since another quarterback, Brock Purdy, came back from the injury and reaggravated it earlier this season only to have to sit out for even longer.

The quarterback, though, doesn’t want to focus on worrying about the injury risk—he just wants to be beneficial to his team.

MORE ON TURF TOE: How Turf Toe Became the Most Misunderstood Injury in Sports

“I’m not gonna ever go to somebody and say ‘I’m healthy, but I don’t think I should go out there and play,’” Burrow said on Tuesday. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I’m not gonna live my life and play this game, scared of something happening. Yeah, something’s gonna happen. It’s football.”

Burrow knows what he’s talking about. This isn’t his first rodeo of suffering a serious injury—he’s a two-time Comeback Player of the Year because of his previous rebounds from injury years. In his rookie season in 2020, Burrow tore his ACL and MCL, but returned healthy in ‘21. Then in ‘23, Burrow suffered a wrist injury to end his year early.

If Burrow had been worried about re-aggravating these injuries, he probably wouldn’t have returned to win Comeback Player of the Year awards in both seasons when he was back from injury.

---

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed