The fourth-year quarterback was not at practice Friday but was in the building for meetings. He also had an MRI on Friday morning.
“It will take several weeks, and that’s the information we’ve got right now,” Taylor said. “Several weeks is several weeks.”
Burrow wasn’t wearing a sleeve on the first day with the full team Wednesday, and he came out of that practice feeling like he had a good day. Taylor indicated Thursday he was just feeling soreness, like many of the players after the first day, but when asked Friday if there were any conversations about limiting him, Taylor just gave a firm, “no.”
These were the first practices Burrow had been a part of to start an NFL camp, after having appendicitis last July, being limited to start the 2022 camp while coming back from ACL surgery and starting off as a rookie in a pandemic-altered preseason.
The quarterbacks and rookies got started Sunday, though the first official practice wasn’t until Wednesday, but Burrow also was coming off a full and productive offseason workout program.
“Joe got more days this July than he’s ever had in the NFL, so I feel really good about the process we made during those July practices with Joe and when he’s able to get back, we’ll be able to get the work in we need,” Taylor said.
Taylor said Burrow is taking the injury “in stride,” just like one would expect.
Now it’s time for the other two quarterbacks to showcase what they’ve got, as the battle for the backup job will intensify while Jake Browning and Trevor Siemian get unexpected reps with the first team offense.
There’s a good chance the Bengals add another quarterback to make sure there are three available to practice, Taylor said, noting the team will bring in some guys to work out. However, Browning and Siemian are prepared for the bulk of the work.
On Friday, it was Browning’s turn with the 1s, but Taylor said the two will rotate so Siemian will get a chance Saturday during the “Back Together” practice open to the public inside Paycor Stadium. After an offday Sunday, the plan is to try to stretch them into two-day periods with the 1s and keeping the rotation going that way so they have a chance to get some rhythm going and building off that.
Browning felt like he had a good day Friday, and although he wishes Burrow the best, he hopes to make good use of the opportunity to get more reps. He’s been the third-string quarterback during his two seasons with the Bengals, spending that time on the practice squad after joining the team just before the start of the 2021 campaign. He originally was a college free agent signee of Minnesota in 2019 and was on the Vikings’ practice squad to begin his NFL career.
“You don’t really know how ready and of your second or third string quarterbacks are until it’s time to actually do it,” Browning said. “So yeah, I’ve been working really hard at this for a while, been on a lot of practice squads and spent a lot of time away from any cameras or any reps with 1s, so I feel like now I’ve had a good practice -- it’s a singular practice, but I feel like I’m in a position where I can keep stacking some good days and hopefully have some good preseason games and hopefully win the backup job.”
Browning said his approach isn’t any different but the opportunity to get more live reps in is important for building himself up to a good rhythm.
“Usually when you’re further down the depth chart you’re getting less and less reps, so it’s kind of like if you’re taking three reps and you have one incompletion, it definitely sticks with you more than if you are taking 10 reps and have an incompletion,” Browning said. “I feel like as a quarterback, the more reps you take the more you can get into a rhythm so if anything, you start to feel better with taking more reps and all that, but there’s a reason you have backups. You’ve always got to be ready and so if you get your opportunity and you’re not ready you weren’t really doing your job so that’s kind of where I’m at.”
Browning didn’t have Tee Higgins among his cast of receivers Friday, as he was one of a handful of veterans not practicing, including D.J. Reader and Chidobe Awuzie, but Taylor said the team is just managing some players over this four-day stretch to begin camp.
Meanwhile, punter Drue Chrisman is out of the hospital following his undisclosed medical emergency but still out of the mix.
“Drue’s out of the hospital, and so, we’ll take it day-to-day with Drue right now,” Taylor said. “So he’s got a lot of tests continue to monitor him each day. He’s out of the hospital. So that’s good news there.”
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