Joe Burrow reported early to Cincinnati Bengals training camp and then left almost just as fast, missing the first day and instead undergoing surgery to remove his appendix.
But as national reports tried to suggest right as the news broke, there wasn’t a better time for something like this to happen.
Granted, everyone would love for it to not happen at all. But Burrow’s missing the breezy part of camp where contact isn’t even permitted, the coaches were never committed to him playing in the preseason anyway and — most importantly — the offense doesn’t do any new installs until much later in camp.
“The good news is he’s got two years in (the offensive system). He knows it,” head coach Zac Taylor said, according to The Athletic’s Jay Morrison. “It’s very redundant, the early portions we’re starting from Day 1 putting in the offense. He’s seen it. He’ll still have his iPad. He’ll still follow whenever he’s in meetings. We don’t expect him to miss a step mentally that way. I’m sure he would love to have all of the physical reps he could possibly get, but he won’t be behind the eight ball at all.”
Besides the simple logistics, there’s also history to consider. Burrow overcame the pandemic as a rookie during his first offseason. He then had to rehab during his second offseason, an opportunity he used to tweak his throwing motion at the same time in order to generate more velocity, then returned early and led the team to the Super Bowl.
So no, it sure feels like Burrow will never have a normal summer in the NFL. But he and the team are sure well-versed on how to tackle it at this point, right?
