CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has dealt with multiple injuries in his first four years in the NFL, so he's learned plenty about what it takes to come back from them.
Rushing through rehab to get back on the field sooner is not necessarily the best way to go, Burrow has learned, and that's why he's giving his surgically repaired right wrist plenty of time to heal.
Burrow threw some passes on the first day of the team's mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, but few were spectacular by Burrow standards.
That's OK, because it's all about being healthy and ready when training camp opens in late July — and Burrow says he will be.
“You always forget how hard it is coming back from injury — that’s every time it happens,” the 27-year-old Burrow said.
“There’s always peaks where you’re like, ‘I’m feeling great,' and then a couple of months later you have a couple of days where it’s like, ’Man, I’m not feeling that great.' In the past I pushed through that and caused problems for myself, and this year I’m not doing that.”
Burrow said playing with a strained calf muscle in the early part of last season was probably not the right thing to do.
After tearing a ligament in his right wrist and having surgery Nov. 27, he has been patient and more methodical with the recovery.
“It's always hard to change your mindset when you’ve done it one way for so long, and that's gotten (me) to where I’m at now,” he said. “And I feel really good about the player that I am because of that work that I put in. But now I feel like I’m transitioning more to listening to my body and making sure that I’m feeling 100% so I can go out and perform and I’m not making these big, big leaps year to year. I feel really good about where I’m at."
When minicamp ends Thursday, Burrow said he'll continue to rehab, spend some more time at the pool and continue learning to play the piano via YouTube instructional videos.
“I’ve been through (injury rehab) before, so I know exactly what it’s going to take for me to feel in tip-top shape come September,” Burrow said. "And, you know, our training staff has been through it before. Coaching staff has been through it with me before. So we know. We know how to handle it.
“But I also feel really good about how I’m throwing,” he said. “And so now it’s just about making sure my body feels the way that I need to come July 24 on our first day of practice and then through training camp into the first game.”
The Bengals open the regular season Sept. 8 at home against New England.