Since his big return to Cincinnati Bengals training camp, Joe Burrow’s participation has been unpredictable to outside onlookers.
Buy Bengals TicketsOn one day, Burrow took more reps than his coaches seemed to expect before falling back to a reduced role the next day.
Apparently, this is all according to plan in the wake of Burrow’s appendectomy. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters recently that he and Burrow sat down and mapped out the rest of the summer.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer made an interesting note when comparing this sort of treatment to actual injuries: “In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably best to look at this as if it were, say, a sprained ankle. Just avoiding doing anything too aggressive until it feels better, where a player would keep getting all the mental work in to prepare for the season and hit the ground running when he returned to health.”
Considering Burrow was in the building right after his operation and hasn’t been behind on the mental side of things, this would seem to be a prime way for the team to handle the situation.
And it sure doesn’t hurt that Burrow has been electric when throwing the ball already.
As an aside, it’s also neat to see the team has enough trust in Burrow to decide when he comes back, then have a say in how he’ll participate the rest of the way.
Zac Taylor said they've planned out every practice left this summer for Joe Burrow. Burrow has been a part of those conversations to get every look they need to see before Pittsburgh.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) August 15, 2022
