Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor revealed on Tuesday the teams plans for their star quarterback Joe Burrow who is coming back from a very rare wrist injury and surgery he suffered in 2023. Burrow, who was not present for practice on Tuesday, will be taking extra steps in preparation for the season to come back healthy and 100%.
Zac Taylor Has An Interesting Plan For Joe Burrow
The star quarterback has been working his way back from season ending surgery last year, and while he has been making great progress, the team wants to make sure that he will be completely healed before he steps back into the huddle.
Taylor has an interesting plan for Burrow which will be to have take the second day off every week of practice for the foreseeable future of this year. He knows how much of competitor Burrow is, and he wants to make sure that the young star does not push himself too much or over extend himself and cause further issues.
Burrow and the team had a slow start of the 2023 season. In 10 games Burrow totaled the year completing 66.8% of his passes for 2,309 yards through the air, 15 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions. Quite a solid stat line for just appearing in 10 games, and while he was upright, the Bengals were thinking Super Bowl or a deep playoff run.
Burrow then missed the rest of the season and while the Bengals were okay with Jake Browning under the center, they failed to make the post season. While they will rest Burrow every second of practice, he should be ready to go for the 2024 season where they will open the year in what should be an easy win against the New England Patriots.
The team will try and make a return to the playoffs but they will need Burrow upright the whole year to make that happen as they find themselves in the best division in the NFL.
Taylor said Burrow plan has involved having the second day off every week. Designed to keep him from pushing too hard. Part of return process they designed.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) June 4, 2024
Burrow has commented on some of the different things that he and the team have done this off season in hopes of keeping him upright for the entire year. When Burrow is healthy this team goes quite far in the post season.
Burrow has tried to gain some significant weight this off season, and the team has brought in some big boys to protect him up front:
“I’m eating more, I’m more dialed as far as nutrition and food schedule and eating when I need to so that’s been a big area of emphasis for me and I’ve seen the results,” Burrow said, via Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.
“We’re bigger. Definitely bigger. We’ll see where I’m at at the end of the offseason. I feel good about where my body is right now. I’m going to continue to get stronger and bigger throughout the offseason and just play it by ear, depending on how I feel.”