Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said he could spend an hour discussing the tweaks he made to his throwing mechanics over the offseason. But it would be easier to show them.
As he stood in front of the podium on Wednesday at Paul Brown Stadium, Burrow got into his throwing stance and spoke about driving his cleats into the ground with both feet. He spoke about stepping with “my full foot” as he plants his left knee into the ground. And he spoke about using his core to generate more power.
The result is a ball that can go further and faster.
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“I’ve improved my entire game right now,” Burrow said. “I’m excited to show all my improvements – deep ball, intermediate, protections, everything. I’m just a much better all-around player.”
Nearly everything about Burrow’s second NFL training camp is different. Aside from the obvious – in-person meetings, fewer pandemic restrictions and the return of preseason games – Burrow reported to the Bengals first training camp practice on Wednesday fully cleared to play and stronger than he was in 2020.
Burrow said he lost a lot of fat and gained a lot of muscle. He cut out dairy from his diet, and he paired that with a new focus in his training regimen with former Bengals quarterback Jordan Palmer.
“I always tweak my form and my motion every offseason and refine it and make it better,” Burrow said. “This is just another step.”
During most of Burrow’s career, from when he was snubbed from the Elite 11 quarterback camp in high school to when he was pitted against the other quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL Draft, Burrow has heard questions about his arm strength.
No matter how many games he won, Burrow said he has heard doubts about his ability to fire a line drive pass through tight coverage, or throw a 40-yard deep ball to a receiver sprinting down the field.
That didn’t matter much his rookie season, when Burrow had 2,688 passing yards in 10 games. But this offseason, Burrow made changes to his mechanics to address the area that scouts were always concerned about.
“The biggest thing is getting all my cleats in the ground, both on my back foot and my front foot,” Burrow said. “Instead of stepping with my toe and rotating there, I'm stepping with my full foot and not rotating as much. And that's just allowing me to generate more torque and power in my core and it will translate up to my arm.”
Burrow is already throwing deep balls to rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase during practice, and his deep passing has been the area Burrow has spoken about improving since his rookie year ended.
With more velocity, more arm strength and Chase, the best deep threat Burrow has played with, Burrow sees his adjustments translating to success in 2021.
“It was all open to us last year, I just didn't hit the deep ones that I needed to,” Burrow said. “I had the arm strength last year to hit those, I just upped it this year. I think it will translate more on deep out routes, resetting to maybe a back-side comebacker 18 yards down the field that I can now hit that I couldn't.”
“He’s one of the top guys in the league in terms of getting the ball out of his hands,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “He put himself in the best body position to be able to make the throw at the exact moment he wants to. He has looked good.”
Combined with the improved skills he plans to highlight in 2021, Burrow will also have more say in the offense. Taylor said Burrow has already been expressing his opinions more in meetings.
In college, Burrow made the leap from average starter to Heisman winner during his second year at LSU. Heading into his second season with the Bengals, Burrow feels a similar confidence.
“I just kind of feel very comfortable in front of everybody saying all the things I need to say,” Burrow said. “Expressing my thoughts on each route and each concept that I expect, where I want them to be, what we can change within each concept. I'm just feeling a lot more comfortable and vocal in those situations.”
Trey Hopkins is back; No center battle
Fewer than seven months after Bengals center Trey Hopkins tore his ACL, Hopkins has been fully cleared to practice.
Hopkins’ activity will ramp up over the course of training camp. According to Taylor, Hopkins is “certainly a starter” and will be back on the Bengals offensive line whenever he’s ready to go.
“Even though he’s fully cleared we still want to be smart with him,” Taylor said. “There is a plan in place for guys like Trey. This is the first time they are doing football activities where they are engaged with somebody else. We want to be smart about how we approach that.”
Larry Ogunjobi on PUP
On Wednesday, the Bengals placed starting defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list with a hamstring injury. Taylor didn’t have an update on the severity of the injury.
“We’ll see, just happened yesterday,” Taylor said. “We’ll figure it out.”
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