CINCINNATI — To understand what went wrong for Joe Burrow last season, you have to understand how it all started.
On the second day of training camp, Burrow strained his right calf muscle, the first of two major injuries that would plague his 2023 season. Burrow overcame the calf issue and returned to full health, but his season ended in Week 11 when he tore a ligament in his throwing wrist.
Burrow has maintained a consistent message throughout this offseason: Preparing successfully for the 2024 campaign means finding the right balance between training and recovery, something he’s missed in recent years.
So you could argue that the period between minicamp and training camp is one of the most critical to the Bengals’ success. The healthier Burrow is early in the season, the better his chances of finishing the season. And Burrow knows how quickly someone can disappear from being one of the best players in the game.
“If you don’t go out and people aren’t watching you, there’s nothing to talk about,” Burrows said on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, which premiered Monday. “This year, it’s going to give people something to talk about.”
That was also on Burrow’s mind throughout the offseason. In a March interview with ESPN, Burrow noted that “the only counter to the narrative” is what happens on the field.
“When you’re injured, there’s no conversation between you and the person you’re talking to,” Burrows said.
At that time, he was still wondering how best to prepare for training camp: how much weight to gain, how to change his training method, what to do a month before camp, etc.
With two weeks left until camp opens, he appears to have combined all three.
He said on the Pardon My Take podcast that he gained about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason. According to Bengals coach Zac Taylor, his minicamp featured scheduled rest days to ensure he didn’t push himself too hard while recovering from wrist surgery. Burrow also worked part-time as a runway model at the Vogue World show in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week, one of the industry’s biggest events.
In some ways, this is part of a more holistic approach that could keep him on the field all season long.
“I’ve always prided myself on my mental toughness, my ability to overcome pain and injury,” Burrows said at a news conference after minicamp in June. “That’s what I grew into in the offseason. I took a step back and understood my value to the organization and the team.”
It was a concern that Burrow’s teammates highlighted when he was struggling with a calf injury. At the time, wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd (now with the Tennessee Titans) were among those who hoped Burrow would take his time getting ready and not rush to start the season. It’s more important that Burrow be able to play in the postseason, as he did when the Bengals made deep playoff runs in 2021 and 2022.
Burrows admitted in his final offseason press conference in June that he should have handled the situation a little differently, another indicator of his changing mindset as he enters his fifth season in the NFL.
Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning, who started seven games in Burrow’s absence late last season, acknowledged that finding a balance between preparing for the season and preparing for something new came up in their conversations. And while Browning wouldn’t reveal the specifics of those conversations out of respect for Burrow, he knows how important this period of the year is for a starting quarterback.
“You can’t win any game in June,” Browning said. “You want to get to the point where you feel like you’re getting better, but you also have to be like, ‘I’m really going to be ready for Week 1.’ The end goal is to be ready and healthy throughout the season.”
