Will Joe Burrow Play Week 1? What We Know About Bengals QB's Injury

Cincinnati Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow returned to practice on Wednesday for the first time since suffering a calf injury over a month ago.

Head coach Zac Taylor had been tight-lipped this summer when answering questions about Burrow's return to the field. At a virtual press conference Tuesday, the fifth-year head coach was noncommittal with his two-word answer of "We'll see" when asked if his starting QB would return to practice this week.

But Burrow was in uniform and on the practice field on Wednesday afternoon.

Burrow suffered a strained right calf on July 27, Cincinnati's second day of preseason workouts. Taylor initially said Burrow would miss "several weeks" because of the injury and had held firm to that forecast in the weeks afterward. Until Wednesday, the fourth-year QB had not practiced since suffering the injury and did not appear in any of the team's preseason games. The Bengals open the 2023 regular season on September 10 against the Cleveland Browns.

From Burrow's contract situation to the Bengals' backup QB situation, here's what else we've learned in recent days.

Will Burrow Play Week 1 Against the Browns?

Taylor said last week that Burrow looked "great" physically and that his prognosis was positive. Despite Burrow practicing on Wednesday, no official timetable has been publicly set as to whether he will play in Cincinnati's Week 1 game, though this is a very positive development for the Bengals. Taylor didn't seem too concerned during his recent press conference.

"I think he has a very healthy body, and I'm encouraged by that," Taylor said, showing a smirk.

Earlier this offseason, Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase said he told Burrow not to play Week 1 if he was not feeling fully healthy.

"I told him that with all honesty I don't want him there," Chase said about Burrow on the NFL Network. "Same thing with me last year. I sat out an extra game just to let my hip all the way heal up. And you don't want to cause no other problems later on in the season."

Burrow's Absence From Practice Unrelated to Contract Talks

Taylor quickly shot down the idea that Burrow was not practicing because of ongoing contract negotiations with the Bengals.

"No," Taylor simply said Tuesday about the matter.

Burrow is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and both he and the Bengals have said they want to lock the 26-year-old in Cincinnati long term. The former No. 1 overall pick has led the Bengals to the Super Bowl and AFC Championship Game the past two seasons. The 2019 Heisman Trophy winner threw for 4,475 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2022 on his way to a fourth-place finish in MVP voting.

Burrow would be the latest star QB to sign a lucrative contract extension. Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts all inked new deals this offseason and are now the three highest-paid players in the league, based on average annual salary.

Before his injury, Burrow said he was not concerned about getting a deal done. Now that he is back at practice, it seems as if that's still his line of thinking.

"It gets done when it gets done," Burrow said about his extension earlier this offseason. "We'll see.... I'm focused on getting a deal done that's good for us, good for me, good for the team, good for everybody."

What If Burrow Can't Play?

If Burrow ends up missing the first week of the season, it seems the Bengals will turn to Jake Browning at quarterback.

The Bengals released veteran QB and former NFL starter Trevor Siemian before Tuesday's 4 p.m. roster deadline. Siemian and Browning battled for the backup spot during the preseason. Browning, who has not appeared in an NFL game since entering the league in 2019, had been on Cincinnati's practice squad the past two seasons.

This time around, he did enough to make the 53-man roster.

"I thought Jake did a good job," Taylor said about Browning during training camp. "I thought both those guys really gave us what we wanted there those last two weeks. But Jake was deserving of that opportunity, so he's the No. 2 quarterback. We feel confident with where he ended training camp at."

To round out the quarterback room, the Bengals added Will Grier to their practice squad on Wednesday. Grier, a third-round pick out of West Virginia in 2019, was released by the Dallas Cowboys after the team acquired Trey Lance in a trade.

Grier completed 29-of-35 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 53 yards and two scores, in Dallas' preseason finale.