CINCINNATI — While the rest of the Bengals stretched on one end of the team’s indoor practice facility Friday morning, Joe Burrow stood and waited, helmet in hand.
As the team wrapped up its usual warmups, Burrow bent his legs and kicked, preparing for his opportunity to throw during the team’s final practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.
The sight seemed unfathomable just a few days ago. When Burrow suffered a turf toe injury on his left foot on Sept. 14, he was given a three-month timetable to return. After being cleared for practice Monday, he eyed a comeback Thanksgiving Day. But exactly nine weeks after surgery to repair the issue, there was a chance he could play this weekend.
Realistically, there is little to play for. The Bengals have lost seven of 10 games this season and have better odds of having a top-five draft pick (16.1%) than making the playoffs (2.8%), according to ESPN Analytics.
And yet, Burrow has spent the past two months doing everything he can to get back on the field. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Burrow won’t play Sunday, but the mere readiness to suit up speaks to the drive that has sustained Burrow’s career each time he has suffered a major injury.
“He’s a football player,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Friday. “That’s what he wants to do.”
It might seem like an oversimplification, but in a career marked by a Super Bowl appearance and sustained stretches of dominant play, he is perhaps most defined by his ability to overcome significant injuries.
As a rookie in 2020, Burrow tore multiple ligaments in his left knee, including his ACL, that ended his season. One year later, the former No. 1 draft pick helped steer the Bengals to their best season in three decades and was minutes away from the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.
In 2022, Burrow’s appendix ruptured during training camp. After recovering in the hospital from emergency surgery, he returned in time for the season opener. A year later, he battled through a strained calf. That ailment eventually subsided in 2023 before he suffered torn ligaments in his throwing wrist, an injury that hampered him through the start of the 2024 season.
But there’s a reason he and Chad Pennington are the only players to win Comeback Player of the Year on two separate occasions. Burrow attacked the rehab process as intensely as possible.
And while the team struggled without him and lost seven of the last eight games, Burrow went from processing his emotions after the injury to channeling them into something positive.
“You try to do what you can and just grind by yourself in the weight room and in the training room when trying to get right,” Burrow said. “There’s not much more you can do. You’re not out there with the guys, you’re not at practice, so return from injury is pretty lonely.”
He had company, however. Bengals tight end Erick All Jr., who is out for the season while he recovers from a torn ACL he suffered his rookie year, caught passes from Burrow as they worked their way back.
On most days, Burrow was at the team’s stadium and headquarters in downtown Cincinnati before All arrived around 6:30 a.m. for his rehab and training. Over time, Burrow displayed the key characteristics one needs to continually attack the rehab process.
“Being confident and trusting the surgery and everything went well,” All said. “That’s really half the battle. Once you get that, you’re fine.
“At first it’ll have a little pain with it. But you just got to keep just getting treatment taken care of it and then it will just all work out.”
Burrow isn’t the only player at his position this season dealing with a toe issue. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a variation of turf toe in Week 1, reaggravated it three weeks later and missed six games. Since Purdy’s injury didn’t need surgery, it was monitored on a week-to-week basis.
“To play quarterback in the NFL, things happen,” Purdy said. “To be myself and play like myself, I have to move a little bit, and I just wasn’t able to get there for a while.”
Burrow had a more defined timeline. ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell said the typical return to play timeline for Burrow’s turf toe surgery is roughly 10 to 14 weeks. By being cleared for practice, Burrow has met the major criteria needed to start playing again. With more time and acclimation to the demands of football, Bell said, the soft tissue repair will continue to mature.
Those who know Burrow well aren’t surprised he is ready to play. Bengals center Ted Karras, who once played with Tom Brady, identified the traits that great quarterbacks have.
“Joe’s an all-time football freak,” Karras said. “I wouldn’t put anything past him. There’s an innate factor in great men when they overcome any type of adversity. He has that.”
