CINCINNATI — To grasp the place all of it went improper for Joe Burrow final season is to understand how it began.
On the second day of coaching camp, Burrow suffered a strained proper calf, the primary of two main accidents that plagued his 2023 season. Burrow battled by means of the calf concern and regained full well being solely to endure torn ligaments in his throwing wrist in Week 11 that ended his season.
All through this offseason, Burrow has maintained a constant message. Having a profitable buildup to the 2024 marketing campaign means placing the precise steadiness between coaching and restoration, one which has eluded him in earlier years.
It is why one might argue the stretch between minicamp and coaching camp is among the most essential for the Bengals’ success. The more healthy Burrow is initially of the season, the higher his odds are of ending it. And Burrow is aware of nicely how shortly one can disappear from the standing as one of many sport’s greatest.
“For those who’re not on the market and folks aren’t watching you, then there’s nothing to speak about,” Burrow stated on the “Pardon My Take” podcast that printed on Monday. “I will give individuals one thing to speak about this 12 months.”
This has additionally been on Burrow’s thoughts all offseason. In an interview with ESPN in March, Burrow identified that the one “rebuttal to the narrative” is what occurs on the sector.
“Whenever you’re injured, there isn’t any dialogue between your self and the narrative,” Burrow stated.
Then, he was nonetheless making an attempt to decipher one of the best ways to arrange for coaching camp — gaining weight, altering his coaching, what he does the month earlier than camp, and so on.
With camp’s opening day lower than two weeks away, it seems he has accomplished a mix of all three.
He advised the Pardon My Take podcast that he added about 10 to fifteen kilos of muscle this offseason. His minicamp featured scheduled relaxation days, based on Bengals coach Zac Taylor, to forestall him from pushing his restrict as he recovers from wrist surgical procedure. Burrow additionally took time to moonlight as a runway mannequin on the Vogue World present in Paris as a part of town’s style week, one of many trade’s largest occasions.
In a means, it is part of a extra holistic method that might maintain him on the sector for a whole season.
“I’ve at all times prided myself on my psychological toughness, to have the ability to push by means of ache and push by means of these accidents,” Burrow stated at a information convention on the finish of minicamp in June. “That has form of been my progress this offseason — taking a step again and understanding my worth to the group and the crew.”
It was an issued burdened by teammates when Burrow battled by means of the calf damage. On the time, extensive receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd (now with the Tennessee Titans) had been amongst those that needed Burrow to take his time to be prepared and never rush again for the beginning of the season. It’s extra essential for Burrow to be out there for the postseason, like he was when the Bengals made deep playoff runs within the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
In his closing offseason information convention in June, Burrow admitted he ought to have dealt with the scenario a bit otherwise, a press release that served as one other indicator of a mentality shift for him heading into his fifth NFL season.
Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning, who began seven video games in Burrow’s absence on the finish of final season, acknowledged that discovering a steadiness between being prepared and being contemporary for the season has come up in conversations between them. And whereas Browning did not reveal any specifics of these talks out of respect to Burrow, Browning is aware of how essential this stretch of the 12 months is for a beginning quarterback.
“You do not win any video games in June,” Browning stated. “You need to toe that line of doing sufficient the place you’re feeling such as you’re getting higher, but additionally, hey, ‘It is actually essential that I am able to go Week 1.’ The top aim is to be prepared and be wholesome all season.”
