Burrow got things started on the right foot Wednesday on the second play of 11-on-11s when he connected with Tee Higgins on a deep ball down the sideline. The play came right after a minor scuffle where Orlando Brown Jr. ended up knocking off Trey Hendrickson’s helmet, but it served as no distraction to Burrow, who called it a “pretty damn good” practice.
“I felt like I put all the balls where I wanted to, made good reads, made good checks, it was a good first day,” Burrow said.
As confident as Burrow is in his performance on the field, he also remains optimistic, or at least unfazed, by his contract situation, despite an extension not being done before camp like most would have hoped.
The L.A. Chargers on Tuesday gave Justin Herbert a five-year, $262.5 million extension, which currently makes him the highest paid quarterback in the league at an average annual value of $52.5 million. That leaves Burrow as the last quarterback to get an expected deal done.
Burrow maintains he isn’t worried about a timeline — “it gets done when it gets done” — but he also said he isn’t particularly concerned by what other quarterbacks are making. He didn’t speak to Herbert through his process, and the amount Herbert is making doesn’t necessarily matter to Burrow.
“I’m focused on getting a deal done that’s good for us, good for me and good for the team, good for everybody,” Burrow said.
Burrow had done an interview on ESPN’s NFL Live on Tuesday where he expressed confidence the Bengals will be able to still get deals done with other players, saying “We’ll see where it goes, but I;m confident that we’ll be able to keep everybody.”
Tee Higgins is also due for an extension, and Ja’Marr Chase will be eligible next year. Other key players in contract years are Logan Wilson, DJ Reader and Chidobe Awuzie.
“We’ll see,” Burrow said, when asked why he was so confident about other deals getting done. “Obviously that’s the ideal situation when you keep guys together for a long time,. They build a rapport and they build chemistry and that translates onto the field. That’s obviously the goal.”
Burrow already feels that rapport with Higgins, Chase and other teammates is paying off. The Bengals offense seemed to be humming along well for a first day. He especially had good reason to be feeling good about it, as he’s never had a start like this.
After a strong 2022 offseason workout program, he ended up spending the first day of training camp in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy, and that set him back a few weeks. Once he was back on the field, he had to build back his strength and he feels he is way ahead of schedule now.
In 2021, he was still working back from ACL surgery, and his rookie season in 2020 wasn’t a normal training camp because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Knock on wood, hopefully,” Burrow said when asked about starting up a full training camp for the first time. “I feel great. This time last year I was sitting in a hospital bed a couple days post-surgery, so it’s good to be out there with the guys and I’m excited about where we’re at.”
Burrow said he hopes to play at least one or two series this preseason, something he also has never done, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor expressed he was open to having the starters get reps this year.
Taylor likes where Burrow is at entering camp but acknowledged some game reps could be useful. He, too, is excited about having his starting quarterback available for a full training camp.
“Certainly doesn’t hurt,” Taylor said. “It certainly helps the team to have the starting quarterback out there taking reps because things are always different with the guy who’s had the amount of reps and the leadership qualities he has, that’s always helpful. Again, just going back to the walkthrough we’ve had this morning, he’s already doing things that are 300 level stuff, and it’s Day 1 install, 100 level.”
Taylor added, “It’s a good thing for the team, you know, because, again, it’s one of our best players out there and taking the reps, and it not only helps the offense, it helps the defense. You know, they get a chance to see a quarterback operate at a very high level. And so I think it’s beneficial for the entire team.”
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