Bengals, QB Joe Burrow both share blame with latest injury
- Joe Burrow has won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award twice due to multiple significant injuries in his career.
- Burrow’s latest toe injury is expected to sideline him for a minimum of three months, impacting the Bengals’ season.
- The Bengals have allocated a large portion of their salary cap to Burrow and his top wide receivers.
“I wouldn’t say this is necessarily an award you want to be nominated for two times,” Burrow said while holding the trophy at the NFL Honors in New Orleans. “But I’m proud of the work that I put in to come back from these injuries that I seem to face every year.”
It was somewhat of a sobering reminder of the string of injuries Burrow’s endured during his career.
Burrow suffered a season-ending knee injury that limited him to 10 games his rookie year. He won his first comeback player of the year award and led the Bengals to a Super Bowl 56 appearance the following season. In 2023, he sustained a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11. The very next year Burrow led the league is passing yards and touchdown passes.
Joe Burrow injury timeline dates back to before his rookie season
Season six for Burrow. It’s a toe injury that’s expected to require surgery. He’ll miss a minimum of three months.
It’s not quite a season-ending injury, but it might be. The best-case scenario has Burrow returning around mid-December.
Burrow’s injury is a brutal blow for a 2-0 Bengals team with Super Bowl aspirations. But the Bengals and Burrow both share some culpability with the predicament they are in.
The Bengals acquiesced to Burrow’s public plea to re-sign wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to lucrative deals. They are the highest-paid receiver duo in the NFL. Combine Burrow’s five-year, $275 million deal that he signed in 2023, the Bengals are allocating approximately $124 million a year for three players. Bengals brass even agreed to give defensive end Trey Hendrickson a revised one-year contract after some nudging from Burrow.
The Bengals’ choice to pay Burrow, Chase, Higgins and Hendrickson at the top of the market for their respective positions has handicapped the team’s ability to build around them.
Safety Jessie Bates and running back Joe Mixon were on Cincinnati’s squad that advanced to Super Bowl 56. They are no longer in town.
The Bengals have also not been able to effectively protect Burrow throughout his career. According to ESPN research, the Bengals pass block win rate has ranked 27th in the NFL or worst since Burrow entered the league in 2020.
Burrow was sacked a league-high 51 times in 2021. He’s been sacked at least 41 times in every season he’s played at least 16 games. Some of the sacks are on Burrow. He does have a tendency at times to hold onto the football in an attempt to extend plays, though, the O-line has routinely been among the league’s worst units.
After the Bengals made Burrow their top pick in the 2020 draft, the team selected Higgins the very next round (33 overall) instead of building upfront with a player like guard Robert Hunt who went No. 39 overall. Hunt was elected to the Pro Bowl last year.
The Bengals used their first-round pick on Chase instead of tackle Penei Sewell in the 2021 draft. Chase and Sewell are both All-Pros.
Granted, the Bengals did select tackle Amarius Mims in the first round of the 2024 draft and recently signed veteran guard Dalton Risner. The jury is still out on Mims.
But the Bengals invested heavily on quarterback and wide receiver. The rest of the roster has holes. The holes are glaring on defense and along the offensive line. Burrow’s injury is a cumulative effect of that.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.
