Burrow said he was happy with the first practice, particularly because of how his body — and most notably the wrist he had surgically repaired in November — felt.
“I was happy with today,” Burrow said. “Still feeling it out. Still have some throws, ‘Well, what did that look like?’ Usually, it goes where I want it to, but sometimes it doesn’t spin the way I want it to, so we’re still working through that. But I feel really good about where I’m at. I feel like I kind of figured something out towards the end of the practice there in individuals. I’m looking forward to exploring that more.”
His hair was naturally a topic of conversation to open camp.
Burrow decided it was time for another new look as he seeks a fresh start in his comeback from injury, but boredom and an agreement with defensive tackle B.J. Hill contributed to the move to a buzz cut and bleach-blonde dye.
“B.J. said that if I buzzed and bleached it, he would do it, too, so now everybody has to hold him accountable because he has to do it in the next week,” Burrow said in his press conference Wednesday.
The new look was surprising even to him when he looked in the mirror the first couple of days. He’s now
drawing comparison to rapper Eminem, but Burrow said it’s probably temporary, as he plans to let it grow out and see what it looks like with frosted tips.
This isn’t the first time he bleached his hair. He and his Athens High School football team did the same after winning a district championship.
“Trying to channel a little bit of that here,” he joked.
Neither wide receiver Tee Higgins, nor coach Zac Taylor were willing to share an opinion on his hair beyond: “If he likes it, I like it.”
.@JoeyB never change 🥹 pic.twitter.com/SNXLKZNbMS
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) July 24, 2024
Higgins and Taylor were more interested in talking about how good Burrow looks throwing the ball so early in camp. Higgins missed the entire offseason workout program and was glad to be catching passes from his starting quarterback again — even if he missed one on an overthrow.
“I was like, ‘Man, what the (expletive)?!’” Higgins said. “Looks like the Joe y’all seen in the Super Bowl run.”
Burrow said although he will be limited to two-day stretches of practice the first week, taking a day off while the team goes a third consecutive day, he plans on going every day after that. He also hopes to play in the preseason, something he hoped to do last year before a calf strain sidelined him much of camp.
“I think that’s the best way to go about it,” Burrow said. “This year we’ll try it out. I think in order for us to be at our best at the beginning of the year I think we kind of need that. That’s something we wanted to do in years past and we haven’t been able to do. I’m excited to get that done this year.”
The fifth-year quarterback also is testing out playing at a higher weight. He is up to 215-220 pounds now after building muscle during the offseason, but said if he starts feeling sluggish, he can easily drop five pounds and see how that feels.
Burrow said his mobility with the wrist has “gotten much better” over the last month or six weeks, but the challenge will be dealing with the good days being mixed with bad ones. He hopes to continue to work on consistency this first part of camp.
“The strength is really good,” Burrow said. “My mobility in it has gotten much better over the last month, month and a half. I think I’m in a good spot. It’s going to continue to get better, especially with all the reps I ‘m going to be getting during training camp. It will continue to loosen up. We’re in a good spot.”
Not the first time Burrow’s gone blonde 🔥
— NFL (@NFL) July 23, 2024
(via @Bengals, @JoeyB) pic.twitter.com/8lSBI2czkC
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