Joe Burrow still has Week 1 return in his sights as recovery progresses

The last we heard from Bengals QB Joe Burrow, he was still a few weeks from running and throwing for the first time since his reconstructive knee surgery. A lot has changed since then, but Burrow’s mindset has not.

Burrow was the guest on the latest episode of the Cris Collinsworth Podcast feat. Richard Sherman. Collinsworth, a former Bengal himself, asked Burrow about his recovery progress and Burrow gave the same optimistic answer he gave the media back in January.

“I’m expecting to play game one,” Burrow said. “I expect to take part in practice. I’m feeling really good. I’m ahead of schedule.”

Week 1 has been the goal since Burrow’s surgery back in December. The nine-month timeline coincides perfectly with the beginning of September, and Burrow’s offseason has been good thus far.

“I’m very optimistic about where I’m at and also where the team is at,” Burrow said. “Rehab is going very, very well and lifting is going very, very well. I’m in great shape. Legs feel good, knee feels good. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m expecting to be there on the first snap of 2021.”

A few weeks ago, the Bengals released a video of Burrow walking onto the field at Paul Brown Stadium for what looked to be a throwing session. Burrow has been throwing for some time now, but he told Collinsworth things have been ramped up a bit recently.

“Last week I had my first real throwing session,” Burrow said. “So I’m dropping, doing play action, all that. Still can’t roll out and throw yet, but I’m taking drop[back]s, throwing to—we don’t have any receivers here yet, so I’m throwing to equipment managers for rehab. But it’s feeling really good right now.”

There’s plenty of other great content from this interview, including a ton of Ja’Marr Chase talk for the Team Chase bunch. But it’s always good to hear positive updates from No. 9 on his road back to full strength.