It's been more than three months since Joe Burrow underwent surgery on his injured wrist, and so far, his rehab seems to be going according to plan.
After Burrow underwent surgery on Nov. 27, it was reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer that it would likely take four to six months for the torn ligament in his right wrist to fully heal. It looks like Burrow is going to be on the long end of that recovery timeline, because he's not expecting to be fully cleared until May at the earliest.
"I think middle of May is when I am expecting to kind of be cleared for full contact and everything," Burrow told ESPN during an interview on March 3. "Over the next month [to] month and a half, we'll kind of decide all those things."
Although Burrow isn't quite throwing footballs yet, he is throwing small medicine balls as he continues to rehab the wrist.
"I can lift basically normally now, which I'm excited about," Burrow said. "So the next two months, I'll basically be just doing what I've done for the last couple of years. Just the 12 weeks of extra work in the rearview."
Burrow generally takes a few weeks off from throwing once the seasons ends, so the fact that he's not throwing right now isn't a big deal, because that's what his offseason has generally looked like during his three prior years in the NFL.
The update from Burrow is good news for Bengals fans, who showed some concern on social media after the quarterback was spotted at a recent NBA game wearing a wrap on his injured wrist, even though he was three months removed from surgery.
#Bengals Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase at Footprint Center for #Suns vs. #Lakers pic.twitter.com/H337eUypkf
— Burn City Suns Talk 🎙️ (@BurnCitySuns) February 25, 2024
Burrow was at the Feb. 25 game with teammate Ja'Marr Chase.
Not only will the Bengals QB have Chase back on the field with him in 2024, but he'll also have Tee Higgins, who was recently hit with the franchise tag.
"Having him back this year, obviously, I hope we're going to have him longer, but it's exciting for me to have him this year and then it's a nice little payday for him," Burrow said. "Then hopefully he gets another one here soon."
Burrow suffered his season-ending wrist injury back on Nov. 16 against the Ravens. The Bengals quarterback threw a touchdown pass in the first half, but his wrist popped on the play and he was unable to throw the ball after that. The official injury was a torn scapholunate ligament.
The wrist issue ended a nightmare season for Burrow, who started the year with an injured calf that sidelined him for nearly a month of training camp. Once the regular season started, it was pretty clear that Burrow wasn't 100%, and because of that, the Bengals had to adjust their play-calling accordingly.
That being said, even if Burrow had stayed healthy, he didn't think the team was good enough to make a Super Bowl run last season.
"The injuries were what they were last year, but we weren't good enough in a lot of different places to make a Super Bowl run in my opinion," Burrow said.
Although Burrow didn't think the team was good enough, they did destroy the 49ers 31-17 in one of the few games where Burrow was completely healthy. If Burrow fully recovers from his wrist injury, then the Bengals will almost certainly go into 2024 as one of the NFL's top Super Bowl contenders.
