Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was carted off the field after suffering a non-contact injury to his right calf during Thursday’s practice.
Burrow stepped into the pocket and began to run toward his right before he ultimately pulled up with his right leg elevated, hopping on his left foot until he stopped his momentum. Burrow immediately went down to the field and grabbed his right leg.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor told reporters after practice that the injury was to the quarterback’s calf. Burrow was already practicing with an apparent wrap around his right calf muscle.
“Just saw his calf. It was 10 minutes ago so we don’t have any more information than that,” Taylor said. “We’ll get more information on it as we go.”
Burrow, the No. 1 pick during the 2020 NFL draft who helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl in 2021, has been in negotiations for a contract extension this offseason.
Burrow’s new deal could potentially eclipse Los Angeles Chargers starter Justin Herbert’s new five-year, $262.5 million extension with $218.7 million in guarantees, agreed to earlier this week.
“It gets done when it gets done,” Burrow said earlier this week. “We’ll see.”
Taylor said Burrow wore a compression on his calf to cope with “some soreness after the first day” of training camp Wednesday.
As for any message to the team after Burrow went down, Taylor said:
“There’s no message. This is football. Guys go down with an injury that maybe is a day thing. Who knows? You don’t message your team every time a guy goes down. There’s a lot of guys that had soreness today that had reps cut down. That’s just part of playing football.”
Burrow finished fourth in NFL MVP voting last season, leading Cincinnati to an AFC North title. The Bengals lost in the AFC Championship Game to the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs earlier this calendar year.
Burrow’s 2022 training camp was cut short due to an appendix removal, but he was second in the NFL with 35 touchdowns, 4,475 yards passing and a 279.7 yards per game average last season. Only Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes had better numbers.
Burrow’s 68.3 percent completion percentage was also second, trailing only Seattle Seahawks starter Geno Smith (69.8) in 2022.
Burrow won NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors in 2021 during his second season, after he tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during his rookie campaign. He led the Bengals to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56.
Burrow has a 24-17-1 record as a three-year starter with the Bengals, and led the NFL with a 70.4 completion percentage and 8.9 yards per attempt during his 2021 campaign. Burrow was also the most sacked quarterback in his second season, getting sacked 51 times during the regular season.
