![joe-burrow-cincinnati-bengals-2022-billboard-1548](https://www.globechroniclez.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/joe-burrow-cincinnati-bengals-2022-billboard-1548-678x381.webp)
During an offseason spent recovering from a season-ending right wrist injury, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been forced to confront his own football mortality. Despite his immense talent and the success he has achieved in his four seasons with Cincinnati, Burrow’s career has been marred by numerous injuries. These include major, season-ending ones like a torn ACL in his rookie season and the wrist injury that sidelined him for the final seven games of last year. Additionally, minor injuries have also limited his offseason participation, such as a calf strain and an emergency appendectomy.
As Joe Burrow continues to work himself back into game shape, there is understandable skepticism around the league regarding the Cincinnati Bengals. Surely, plenty of this has to do with Burrow’s injury history. It’s unfortunate, but when you suffer season-ending injuries in two of your first four NFL seasons, people are going to start looking at you different, and because Burrow is not just the quarterback, but the face of the Cincinnati Bengals, the entire franchise is potentially flying under the radar as the 2024 NFL season inches closer by the day.
The Bengals will be playing a last place schedule and have many of their key pieces back from squads that went to back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2021 and 2022. For that reason, it’s possible that both Burrow and the Bengals aren’t getting the respect that they deserve heading into the season. And Burrow took it upon himself to give the rest of the league a reminder of just who he is and what the Bengals are capable of. When asked if he believed the Bengals were being undervalued heading into the 2024 NFL season, this was Burrow’s determined response:
“I believe that,” Burrow said during an interview on Pardon My Take (h/t Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk). “That’s what happens when you get hurt, though. You don’t play football, people forget about you. If you’re not out there and people aren’t watching you, then there’s nothing to talk about. I’m going to give people something to talk about this year. I’m excited about it.”
“I’m going to give people something to talk about this year” is about as bold of a statement as you can make while coming back from a season-ending injury. And you know what? I don’t doubt Joe Burrow for a second.
Leave a Reply