Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow will miss “several weeks” with a calf strain that he suffered in practice yesterday, according to Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. Kelsey Conway of The Athletic reported the news.
Burrow pulled up short on a play yesterday and left practice on a cart. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Bengals will add a quarterback to the room behind Trevor Siemian and Jake Browning, who will rotate taking first-team reps until Burrow comes back.
The several weeks he will be out knocks Burrow out for the preseason, something that was expected regardless as a precautionary measure. Depending on the timeline, it could also knock him out for some early-season games, although that’s not something that I would necessarily count on. Taylor wouldn’t speculate about Burrow’s Week One availability.
Obviously, losing Burrow is a blow to Cincinnati, but with more than six weeks until opening week, he should be fine for Week One. He’ll lose valuable reps in the ramp up to the regular season but he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league and should end up being fine.
If nothing else, it’ll be good for the Bengals to get familiar with Browning and Siemian in the case the injury re-occurs or Burrow has to miss time during the regular season. But it’s no doubt a loss for Cincinnati, although I’m sure the organization is glad it avoided the worst-case scenario. The injury looked a lot worse on video, so I’m sure everyone in Cincinnati is breathing a sigh of relief knowing it’s not as bad as it could’ve been.
The Steelers don’t see the Bengals until Week 12, so Burrow should be healthy by then. But if he does miss time during the season, it could impact the AFC North race.
