Joe Burrow says he’s on track for 2021 season opener

Doctor’s opinions are fine, but it’s nice to finally hear from the source.

For the first time since his season-ending knee injury, we got to hear Joe Burrow speak. The Bengals’ quarterback was on Fox Sports’ The Herd with Colin Cowherd Thursday afternoon, and Cowherd asked Burrow if he thinks he’ll be ready to start the next season.

With his usual confidence, Burrow gave us the answer we were looking for.

“Things are on track to start the season the way I need to,” Burrow said. “Practice a little bit in fall camp and be ready to go.”

For Burrow to be able to practice a bit before the season opener would be fantastic. The consensus was that Burrow’s recovery would take the full length of the offseason, so for him to be participated in football activities at any point before the regular season starts would be advantageous to the Bengals. Cowherd then asked if he’ll be ready for Week 1.

“I think I’ll be ready. I think I’ll be just fine.”

You can watch his full answer here provided to us by our own Matt Minich:

There are still eight months that separate us from the Bengals’ 2021 season opener, and Burrow still has a long way to go. The 24-year old had reconstructive knee surgery on December 3rd and shared a video of himself walking for the first time since then on Christmas Day.

Hours after the Bengals announced head coach Zac Taylor’s return in 2021, Burrow shared his support for Taylor and the organization. When asked about Taylor on The Herd, Burrow maintained his support for his head coach.

“I think Zac is going to be a great coach for a long time. I’m happy to be in the position that I’m in and to help build this organization, but it is going to be on Zac’s back. He’s the leader of what we are trying to do and he’s awesome.”

The sooner Burrow gets back to 100%, the sooner he and Taylor can prove that the franchise is indeed heading in the right direction.