The Cincinnati Bengals never really got untracked in 2023, their season seemingly derailed by injuries to key players on their offense. The most damaging of those was a calf injury that Joe Burrow suffered during training camp and lingered into the season; and by the time he got back to full health, it wasn't long before his season was ended by a torn wrist ligament that required surgery.
According to Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, everything is going swimmingly with Burrow's recovery.
"It's positive," Taylor said, according to ESPN. "It's right on schedule, and so we're encouraged with everything we thought it was going to be and where he's going to fit into our offseason."
Earlier this month, Burrow said that he expected to be ready to fully join the offseason program this spring. "I think middle of May is when I am expecting to kind of be cleared for full contact and everything," Burrow said, also per ESPN. "Over the next month [to] month and a half, we'll kind of decide all those things."
Whenever Burrow does get back on the field, things will be quite a bit different for him than they have been in the past. He's got a new right tackle in Trent Brown. He's got new running back in Zack Moss after the team traded Joe Mixon to the Texans. He's got a new offensive coordinator in former quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher, who replaced Brian Callahan after the latter was named head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
And he may or may not have wide receiver Tee Higgins, with whom Burrow came into the league in 2020, after Higgins requested a trade in lieu of a contract extension. The Bengals have been steadfast in saying they expect Higgins to be on the team next season, but you never know what can happen around draft time. Either way, the idea is for Burrow to remain a constant in Cincinnati for a long time, helping the team weather changes like the ones they've undergone this offseason.
