Ben Baby, ESPN Staff WriterJul 13, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
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- Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN's NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
CINCINNATI -- To understand where it all went wrong for Joe Burrow last season is to know how it all started.
On the second day of training camp, Burrow suffered a strained right calf, the first of two major injuries that plagued his 2023 season. Burrow battled through the calf issue and regained full health only to suffer torn ligaments in his throwing wrist in Week 11 that ended his season.
Throughout this offseason, Burrow has maintained a consistent message. Having a successful buildup to the 2024 campaign means striking the right balance between training and recovery, one that has eluded him in previous years.
It's why one could argue the stretch between minicamp and training camp is one of the most important for the Bengals' success. The healthier Burrow is at the start of the season, the better his odds are of finishing it. And Burrow knows well how quickly one can disappear from the standing as one of the game's best.
"If you're not out there and people aren't watching you, then there's nothing to talk about," Burrow said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast that published on Monday. "I'm going to give people something to talk about this year."
This has also been on Burrow's mind all offseason. In an interview with ESPN in March, Burrow pointed out that the only "rebuttal to the narrative" is what happens on the field.
"When you're injured, there's no dialogue between yourself and the narrative," Burrow said.
Then, he was still trying to decipher the best way to prepare for training camp -- gaining weight, changing his training, what he does the month before camp, etc.
With camp's opening day less than two weeks away, it appears he has done a combination of all three.
He told the Pardon My Take podcast that he added about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle this offseason. His minicamp featured scheduled rest days, according to Bengals coach Zac Taylor, to prevent him from pushing his limit as he recovers from wrist surgery. Burrow also took time to moonlight as a runway model at the Vogue World show in Paris as part of the city's fashion week, one of the industry's largest events.
In a way, it's a part of a more holistic approach that could keep him on the field for an entire season.
"I've always prided myself on my mental toughness, to be able to push through pain and push through those injuries," Burrow said at a news conference at the end of minicamp in June. "That has kind of been my growth this offseason -- taking a step back and understanding my value to the organization and the team."
It was an issued stressed by teammates when Burrow battled through the calf injury. At the time, wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd (now with the Tennessee Titans) were among those who wanted Burrow to take his time to be ready and not rush back for the start of the season. It is more important for Burrow to be available for the postseason, like he was when the Bengals made deep playoff runs in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
In his final offseason news conference in June, Burrow admitted he should have handled the situation a bit differently, a statement that served as another indicator of a mentality shift for him heading into his fifth NFL season.
Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning, who started seven games in Burrow's absence at the end of last season, acknowledged that finding a balance between being ready and being fresh for the season has come up in conversations between them. And while Browning didn't divulge any specifics of those talks out of respect to Burrow, Browning knows how important this stretch of the year is for a starting quarterback.
"You don't win any games in June," Browning said. "You want to toe that line of doing enough where you feel like you're getting better, but also, hey, 'It's really important that I'm ready to go Week 1.' The end goal is to be ready and be healthy all season."
