Just eight months after tearing his ACL, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been fully cleared to participate in training camp.
When players report to camp on Tuesday, Burrow will be a full participant in practice and 11-on-11 drills.
But Bengals owner Mike Brown said Burrow likely won’t play in the preseason.
“We probably aren’t going to put him out there until we get to the season because we don’t want to risk anything with him,” Brown said. “His effort rehabbing was A-plus.”
Brown compared Burrow’s intensity to former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a likely future Hall of Famer. When discussing Burrow, Brown also mentioned Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
“He has won over everybody on this team, me included,” Brown said “He does it with his intensity. He focuses on learning his responsibilities, carrying them out in a way that other players see and want to emulate. He has real effort there.”
During OTAs and minicamp in May and early June, the Bengals coaching staff protected Burrow as he rehabbed from a torn ACL.
At that time, Burrow didn’t line up under center so he didn’t cross feet with an offensive lineman. He didn’t practice handoffs with running backs, and he didn’t throw any deep passes in his first practice. But when training camp starts, Burrow won‘t have any of those limitations.
“He's cleared to do everything,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "Now it's on us to be wise and take it week to week. Obviously, he wants to get the reps, be ready to play Week 1 against Minnesota. That's our focus.”
“You want to take it week to week. But so far, so good. He had a great spring. He's had a great summer. He's ready to get back at it.”
Bengals extension watch
On Monday, the Bengals announced Sam Hubbard signed an extension that will keep him with the Bengals through the 2025 season.
"Sam Hubbard is the kind of guy you want on your football team,” Brown said. “He has sound ability but he's really a good person. He's an example for the other guys. He's a leader in that sense. He does everything the right way.”
With Hubbard under contract long-term, the next could be extending safety Jessie Bates III. Bates was the Bengals' best player in 2020 and was ranked as Pro Football Focus’s top safety in the NFL.
“We’re always trying to get guys extended and we’d like to make more hay there as we go here,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said. “Maybe something can come together with Jessie. It was great to get Sam (Hubbard) on board.”
Cincinnati Bengals injury updates
In addition to Burrow, two more starters who had season-ending injuries in 2020 have been fully cleared for training camp.
Defensive tackle D.J. Reader had a season-ending quad injury on Oct. 11 against the Baltimore Ravens. He rehabbed on a side field during OTAs, but Taylor said Reader is “fully cleared, ready to roll.”
Starting center Trey Hopkins tore his ACL in the season finale on Jan. 3, and he’ll have a slightly slower progression during training camp than Reader.
“We have to be really careful of him in camp,” Taylor said. “He’s a guy we will manage early on and take it week to week like we talked about with Joe (Burrow). Probably hold him a little bit more early on.”
Rookie defensive end Cam Sample, one of the Bengals' fourth-round picks, is day-to-day with a slight hamstring injury. Defensive tackle Renell Wren missed the entire 2020 season with a quad injury, and he’s day-to-day as he regains strength in his quad and then competes for a roster spot.
Rookie defensive end Wyatt Hubert, the Bengals seventh-round pick, had surgery and will miss the entire 2021 season with a torn pectoral muscle.
Undrafted free agent punter Drue Chrisman, a former Ohio State Buckeye who played high school football at La Salle High School in Cincinnati, suffered a hand injury that will keep him out a few weeks.
Bengals roster move
The Bengals signed wide receiver Reece Horn on Monday. Horn played college football at the University of Indianapolis, and he has played professionally in Europe, in the American Alliance of Football and in the XFL.
Horn was an undrafted free agent in 2016, and he has briefly been a part of the Tennessee Titans and the Miami Dolphins.
Source link
