Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow heads for surgery next week while the team continues to both play and deal with an NFL investigation into the circumstances around his injury.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the team has complied with the investigation and sent over plenty of evidence refuting any wrongdoing:
Sources familiar with the organization say the Bengals have turned in hours of footage to the NFL showing that Burrow was healthy prior to the game. According to those who have seen the footage, Burrow threw the ball normally during practice, without a brace and took all of his normal reps. It also includes documentation from medical personnel stating Burrow’s injury was “acute,” as Taylor has explained. It was not, the doctors say, an injury that happened over time, sources say.
The NFL turned a close eye to the Bengals due to pregame footage that showed Burrow wearing some sort of device on his throwing hand when getting off the plane for the Week 11 game against Baltimore.
Burrow has since stated the “device” was a compression sleeve to keep swelling down, which is something he’s worn even in postgame pressers on his throwing arm.
As we noted at the time, Burrow had taken all the reps as a full participant and looked like his usual self in practice before looking just fine against the Ravens before the hit that injured his wrist.
In short, it’s hard to imagine the investigation produces anything, though due diligence after the social media team deleted that footage of Burrow getting off the plane makes sense.