Setting Expectations for Bengals QB Joe Burrow Ahead of Training Camp

Setting Expectations for Bengals QB Joe Burrow Ahead of Training Camp

with Bengals training camp right around the corner we’re always going to start this training camp preview with the thing that makes a franchise go in Joe bur you are locked on Bengals your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the locked on Bengals podcast today we kick off our training camp preview series with training camp starting next week next week that’s very very soon we’re part of the lockdown podcast Network here on lockdown Bengals covering your team every day we’re on YouTube where everywhere you get your podcast if you’re new to the show you can subscribe wherever you get your podcast and it makes it very easy to join the thousands of Bengals fans who make us a part of their everyday routine shout out to the every dayers and to all of you who make us your first listen today’s episode is sponsored by game time where you can save money on tickets by downloading the game time app creating an account and using promo code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply and James we will start by setting expectations for Joe Burrow’s training camp in 2024 there’s a lot to talk about and will be a lot of scrutiny as Joe burrow and I’d say our observations align on this have noticed that there may be some recency bias in terms of considering quarterbacks in the NFL and he’s ready to prove those doubters wrong and that starts next week it does and I I think it’s it’s going to be a unique situation A Unique Camp because I think Joe burrow is capable just physically capable and we’ll go over it I’m sure day one of Camp he’s going to make a ton of throws physically capable of making all the throws that he wants to make now I believe that I don’t know that Joe didn’t call me even though Joe happy to drink a body armor with you that’s no problem I made that very very clear he didn’t call me and tell me that but I I sort of expect him to be able to make all the throws right now that said Camp starts at the end of July right next week it does not start in September September and they need him to be ready to go in sep setember we saw last year what happened so I do think that they’re still going to be cautious he’s going to be aware of that as well and and the the other element here that I’ll be watching is what if he’s dealing with and he dealt with all sorts of stuff just last year alone Nicks and uh aches and pains all these little things if he has any little things throughout Camp does he say I’m okay I’ll see you after the off day tomorrow and and I’m going to take a couple days off I I wonder if he’s going to be willing to do that if the Bengals make him do that that’s a a storyline that I think we’re going to cover a lot but as far as him being physically ready to go yeah I expect him to be physically ready to go when players or when veterans at least report on July 23rd one thing to keep in mind is that the Bengals and Zack Taylor generally ramp things up in training camp so if on day one you’re seeing videos from beat writers or if on the back together weekend day at payor Stadium you’re watching practice and Joe burrow isn’t ripping passes as hard as he can as far down field as he can none of that should be surprising even in a year where there weren’t questions about his heal yeah that’s just the way this team does things and a lot of NFL teams do things there’s plenty of data we have that says that soft soft tissue injuries especially lower extremity leg injuries happen early in Camp before players are climatized so there’s a ramp up period even after the offseason program even though the players are all in better shape than almost everyone listening to this podcast the Day Camp starts they they still ramp up right maybe everyone listening to this podcast who knows maybe none of you are as fit as play I I like that you had the disclaimer that because there could be one right or there could be five so no you know Dan Hurley’s probably in pretty good shape I know he’s a coach I know he’s he’s not like an NFL athlete at this point but he probably stays in good shape there probably other athletes uh I I guess I’m not going to name them all I know there are some Bengals fan athletes who follow the show I should say who are professional athletes on some level so there are some some people out there I’m just saying I know they’re out there um just messing with you we’re on a big tangent here point is we shouldn’t be surprised if Joe burrow isn’t throwing a 100% as as hard as you can on day one two three of Camp because of the ramp up period I’m really I’m really athletic in college football 25 there we go just just keeping the tangent going yeah I I I I think is there a bigger storyline than that though like we’re going to talk about scheme we’re going to talk about the offense in general this week we’re going to talk about the defense we’re going to talk about position battles that there’s a ton of stuff but to me it comes back to I was talking to a a veteran Bengals player after the offseason program it’s like as long as that man’s healthy and he he didn’t point to him he referred to him but it’s like as long as that dude’s healthy I wasn’t in the room with him but as long as that man’s healthy we we’re right there we have the team that can be there and make a push and so I think it I think it starts as the biggest story and then very quickly could become a non-story so we’re going to sit here and talk about expectations that yeah he might take a day off and is it the Bengals coaching staff to saying you’re not going to practice today is it agreed upon schedule is it Zach Taylor being like you know you’re not going today or is it Joe burrow making the call because we we went back and forth on that in the offseason program as well and he’s talked about not pushing himself at a time that it’s not to push himself and we’ve talked about all those things as well but very quickly if he’s just normal and healthy then we’re talking about those position battles because you know after two weeks of Joe burrow practicing every day without incident or a week and a half or whatever it is we’re not going to be sitting here ringing our hands over oh well is Joe burrow still okay if he’s just normal so it could just go away very quickly if he’s just normal Joe yeah no I and that would be ideal and even then let’s say he he does what he did last year where he’s just in on day one of camp where I’ve talked about this more than probably anyone it’s the best practice I’ve seen him have he was just insane and I actually went back and listened or or checked out our show checked out the the post practice video I did and that was the like the takeaway which was shocker Joe Bro is really really good but he looked awesome that being said I I think two things one I remember last year the first couple practices were were hard relatively speaking for Zack Taylor initial practices they they weren’t as dialed back and scaled back as as we’ve seen in in past years I wonder if that will continue the practice plan in general with Zack I wonder if it will kind of align With The Star Quarterback to a degree I don’t think you can make it fully that way but maybe a little bit but two maybe he does come out and has an awesome day one of practice and then rests or and and I think this would be hard to tell Joe no if he comes out and he struggles a little bit day one then day two telling him I was it was a scheduled off day or was it scheduled you’re only going to get 50% of the team reps today or whatever it is I I do wonder about that balance to so uh it’s uh it’s just going to be a dynamic I hope your scenario is the one that plays out though where it’s just it just becomes a nonissue and we’re talking about football stuff yeah we’re just talking about punter battles every day because Joe burrow is just himself you know and and there’s nothing else interesting going on I’m just kidding there will be plenty of interesting things going on in training camp here’s my my question for you James Joe burrow knows that he said on PMT last week that he hasn’t done a pushup because of the RIS will we see Joe burrow do a push-up at training camp no I’ve never seen Joe bur do a pushup yeah but you know how he likes to you know show people that they’re wrong about things or like you know put put things in in the face of of the media when he knows their eyes on it I think yeah I mean I think he could do 50 push-ups with the weighted vest on right now like if he needed to you know he’s he’s on another level I mean he’s really he looks he looks strong he looks thick he he looks uh pretty ripped up in a good way so I’m not worried about that but I I do think it’s it’s funny it would be funny if he did a push-up hopefully I get video of it if he does yeah it’s just like you know he he’s done things like that to show that he’s good I would bet on him to win a push-up contest with not with everybody on the team obviously so I’m I’m hedging my bed here a little with the quarterbacks and the Specialists lowbar Cal adomitis I mean it’s a lineman just saying let’s continue our conversation on the topic of do burrow is it mean I would beat all of them so it doesn’t matter and I’m serious we’ll continue with a few final thoughts on Joe Burrow’s training camp and in addition to that we talked about how perhaps some have forgotten about Joe burrow but the NFL apparently has not according to ESPN’s Jeremy fer we’ll touch on those topics coming up next Today’s Show is brought to you by betterhelp better help is here for you and maybe you thought about giving therapy a try well betterhelp is entirely online it’s completely convenient it’s going to fit your schedule it’s going to fit my schedule even though my schedule’s about to get really really busy Jake lisco in Canada he’s dealing uh with the the travel for camp and all of those things even the busiest schedules better help uh will fle be flexible and fit your schedule and look comparison it’s the thief of joy and it’s easy to Envy other people’s lives and it might look like they have it all together when in reality they don’t because yeah social media it’s really easy they look like you have it all together so therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have so you can start living your best life stop comparing and start focusing with better help is it betterhelp.com locked on to get 10% off your first month again that’s betterhelp hp. locked on as far as expectations just putting a bow on that conversation we focus a lot on his health his participation the annual will Joe burrow get through training camp and have a normal training camp I expect you to do a bunch of push-ups when you’re in town go ahead okay that’s fine I like Joe burrow have not done many push-ups because it’s not not really part of my my current regimen anyway uh the the other bit of expectations is what else do we need to see from Joe burrow at this point from a football perspective and if he comes out like he did on day one of training camp last year and he looks great if the velocity is back to normal if he looks like himself that is obviously best case scenario or expectations at this point that Joe burrow is 100% Joe burrow relatively quickly in training camp what are your thoughts there I expect that yeah I do I I think because here’s part of it even if he’s not fully 100% it’s Camp so like 94% of Joe burrow to us is probably gonna look like 100% Joe burrow most of the time so even if he’s battling a little bit of a little bit of something but if he’s not let’s say he’s 81% and its rest that he needs give it and and find a way to get to 100% on September 8th because September 8th they’re going to hit you and you you start here hopefully at 100% And you you slowly go down and there are times when you can re-energize and get a little closer we saw that last year with burrow but when you’re starting the year at I whatever he was two years ago 70% after the appendectomy or last year where he just clearly couldn’t move and and was trying to to battle through it’s really really tough and and so hopefully he can continue to gradually get there but no I expect him to be pretty Dar close to 100% early in Camp and then maybe they have to you know give him rest days here and there to get him to 100% but I I think he’s going to make a full recovery I really do yeah and it sounded like he was very optimistic the team was very optimistic that things were on the timeline they were expecting throughout the offseason program and that continued into training camp where they expect them to continue to uh be Joe burrow and and be the engine that makes the team go on the topic of Joe burrow Jeremy Fowler is currently publishing his top 10 at each position list and we haven’t actually spent a ton of time talking about this anytime talking about this I didn’t even know it was happening until the quarterbacks list came out and that’s the fourth to last position that Jeremy fower has published but Joe burrow on this list has reprised his ranking from 2023 once again this year according to votes from NFL Executives from scouts from coaches Joe burrow is still ranked the second best quarterback in the NFL and an AFC Scout who uh was quoted in the piece did reference Joe Burrow’s durability questions and and specifically was talking about the ACL tear and and I don’t think you can talk about Joe burrow right now without talking about his wrist but despite all that and despite the Joe bur is gonna give them something to talk about and despite the mediad driven rankings that have seen Joe burrow much lower on similar lists I find it interesting that the list that comes directly from the NFL maintains Joe Burrow’s position as the second best quarterback in the league behind only Patrick Mahomes yeah the the NFL doesn’t always at least some organizations do but in general they don’t react with the es and flows week to week as much as a lot of outlets I would say do and yeah the injuries they are a concern but injuries are a concern for anyone that’s dealt with a couple of them like I I don’t think what could he have done to prevent the the RIS you know I I don’t I don’t really think that’s something anyone uh could have foreseen coming the the ACL well the offensive line was awful and that that’s when I do blame on the the offensive line because he just took a ton of hits that year they weren’t a good team uh but that that quote mentions it says no Mixon and T Higgins hold out are big concerns that’s that Scout and that’s what I think is so interesting about these lists and there there’s there’s far more wild statements by the way far more wild statements than that and not even necessarily Bengals related with these but but Higgins isn’t holding out we know that right so let’s just say it’s an old statement we’ll throw that part out the one area that I’m not concerned about losing Mixon is the Joe brough protection element Zach Moss is a better it’s a fact better pass protector than Joe Mixon they upgraded there he might not be the runner he might not be the pass catcher fine but from a a pass protection standpoint there there is no debate there that that Zach Moss is more established so when it comes to burrow I I I don’t know if that that point is valid but the injuries sure they’re a concern I’m happy the NFL didn’t drop him far but if bro gets hurt again he will drop in this list and at the same time he’s still at the stage of his career where let’s say he has a career year and wins MVP and ends up in in New Orleans and hand hands a Lombardi to Mike Brown if that happens then this list is going to get really really interesting next year so he could still go up I’m not completely is missing that but uh he needs to have a big year for sure yeah uh the veteran NFC offensive coach quoted in the piece by Jeremy fowers even noted his youth is is part of why the injury isn’t as concerning and both that veteran NFC offensive coach who called him tough as nails and an NFL executive who was quoted both referred to his toughness in fact the NFL executive I think had the the most positive quote out of all of this although the NFC offensive coach did as well burrow is still probably the most consistent of all the guys a pure thrower who’s in complete Command of the offense and comes up big in big moments so I just find it interesting James that there’s all this talk about you know forgetting about burrow and the MVP odds and and all these things we’ve talked about in the past week or so and then the NFL guys out there that are that are pulled every year by Jeremy Fowler for this piece as you mentioned not reacting to some of the you know in some of the day-to-day as it were the the minute to minute the recency events not quite as uh prevalent here for for burrow which is I I think it should be encouraging that the NFL still sees him as the same quarterback that we think he can be well it’s I saw it was someone out of Miami and I I forget his name and look media is media and everyone’s going to have an opinion but it was like Tua and burrow are in the same and it’s like oh well Burrow’s defense and carried it and like all these things and it’s just like come on man Miami has been trying to convince themselves of that narrative for uh three years but I don’t think anyone TR like like truly in the NFL like even the Dolphins who wanted burrow they tried to trade up for him like come on man come on like it but there are some that just they view it that way and they think all these things and I don’t think this is orange and black glasses I know what mediocre quarterbacks look like we’ve seen it right it’s it’s it’s far different than this so Joe Bro second he deserves to be second now does he have to prove it and entrench himself second this year by outplaying a Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or or going toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes absolutely and and that’s where our expectations are no doubt I was just scrolling through the list from Jeremy Fowler to try to find twoa his name and he’s down as the fourth honorable mention after the top 10 so tells you where the NFL is and and that’s probably much closer than sure he’s a good player the Miami writer would have you believe help me win a fantasy title last year thank you Tua coming up next in line with Joe Burrow’s performance are potential changes coming to the offense and will we see Joe Burrow under Center more as that theme has been prevalent in in the offseason program for two years running now will that continue at training camp we’ll discuss the offensive scheme that we’re expecting to see in Camp coming up next Today’s Show is brought to you by game time I know we’ve talked a lot about push-ups on today’s show you don’t have to do any push-ups this training camp or this football season but what you 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time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code l c d o n NFL locked on NFL for $20 off download game time today last minute ticket lowest price guaranteed looking for the offense’s next step James is something that we will be watching throughout training camp that’s a great time to get a feel for some of the ideas that the offense wants to implement you well if you’re paying close attention see pretty much everything that the team plans to do on offense at the start of the year in the last couple of years one of the big themes that we’ve seen is an emphasis on play action an emphasis on run pass option work from from a footwork perspective from an full offense install perspective and we’ve seen that continue in the offseason program a little bit and with Dan pitcher taking over at offensive coordinator a big storyline that we’ll be watching in Camp that directly relates to Joe burrow because we’ve talked in the past about his reluctance perhaps or the the splits where his performance under Center in play action wasn’t quite early in his career where he wanted it to be and it took major steps forward last year is that a thing that we expect to continue into training camp this year yeah I think it’s a a huge storyline it it it’s the one argument for why the Reps the non-rest days why they’re so crucial and it’s that that’s the balance because I do think that this offense does need to add more wrinkles that we actually see on the field we’ve talked about this we think they’ve added they added a lot of this last year and part of it was simple Joe B was dealing with a calf issue and they threw it out and they were just trying to get get by week to week which could happen this year right injuries happen where maybe you’re you’re down some skilled guys and you can’t run the offense that you’re thinking about running fine but as of now with all hands on deck why wouldn’t they be able to go under Center a bit why wouldn’t they be able to uh make Joe bro’s life a bit easier at the same time they have a running back and and Zach Moss obviously Chase Brown worked on his pass catching this offseason we’ve talked about that they have a running back in Zach Moss who fits the shotgun style that’s another thing the fit works out he might not be the player Joe Mixon was when he was here but from a fit standpoint feels pretty darn good and so how they Implement these guys like Tyler boy awesome player when he was here but we knew he was kind of limited to the slot now they don’t really have to play a receiver if jine Burton comes on or heck Andre yavash if you want to put him outside with with with Jamar Chase’s versatility like you you have these options so how does the scheme reflect that I think that is a it’s something you’re going to be eyeing from day one when you’re at at Camp uh certainly I am too and how this offense evolves I think and there’s going to be a lot about the defense but how this offense evolves is going to go a long way toward whether or not we’re talking about them making a run to New New Orleans or not in February yeah I mean you see that Kansas City just last year was able to win a Super Bowl with their offense not really finding its footing much of the year they they sort of figured some things out in the postseason they still have Patrick Mahomes a quarterback his receivers tend to catch the ball much better when they’re non- Tyreek Hill post Tyreek Hill era receivers in Kansas City and and the playoffs than they do in the regular season so uh it’s hard to say that Kansas City just won because of their defense but their defense did take strides so obviously yeah the defense is still going to be important but as far as the offense’s next step schematically and the things that we’re going to be looking for from an evolutionary perspective or a modernization perspective or whatever you want to call it is one the the continued development and employment and refinement and and marriage to the rest of the offense of that under Center game both in the running game and the play action game the passing game and then some some things that we haven’t discussed quite as much but have come up in terms of trends that we’ve noticed in the offseason as well obviously didn’t get a lot of Jamar Chase in the offseason program so where he aligns and and how they’re deploying him with the full compliment of receivers available because we didn’t see T Higgins or Jamar Chase for most of the offseason program or all all of the offseason program in t Higgins cases so case with those guys back at practice every day with the addition of Germaine Burton who’s trying to work his way up the depth chart with Charlie Jones continuing to try to lock down the the slot job and competing for the slot job with guys like Germaine Burton and some undrafted guys even that that were impressive in the offseason program that wide receiver battle conversation will be a bigger discussion topic but with the versatility like you said James with that alignment versatility that they’ve got at the wide receiver position seeing where certain guys are aligned seeing how much pre- snap motion and at the snap motion this team is using this year are they are they a little bit more Dynamic before the snap in terms of getting information and then you know they they’ve got the new addition of Mike Kiki the return of of Drew sample so they’re and the additions a tight end do we see the tight ends I mean that’s the the rookie tight ends are they ready for Camp that’s something we’ll talk about as a question for sure but with all these new pieces on offense seeing how they’re all deployed from a Personnel perspective do they go more 12 Personnel do you see more pre-nap motion do you see more of this play action work these are the subtle shifts in the offense that we’re looking for and I say subtle because I don’t think they’re suddenly going to be a 60% 40% 11 personnel 12 Personnel team but you might see it Go a few percentage points in one direction or another depending on how they’re feeling about the guys they’ve got the building yeah I I agree and I think in a perfect world what would happen is they would be able to go sort of like how Lou does or has done when they’ve made these playoff runs week to week it just completely can change and they do that on offense too they have done that too they they do it but usually when they do that we’re talking about going to Denver and it’s like 16 13 well I think about like the San Francisco game last year which a lot of people saw is a Big C change for the way the offense ran sure that fair and and they’ve had some success but then what right like it a bunch of stuff came up my point is is like consistently being able to have the Personnel the scheme in place obviously there’s a to to be more consistent on offense to be explosive regularly on offense to generate the the first downs needed so you do get those explosive opportunities even at their best during this run the offense has had ups and downs and you always have ups and downs but you don’t want to be as inconsistent as they’ve been at times and so I I think that there’s another step there and part of it is is simple I think is finding ways to generate explosive plays well how do you do that part of it is you put your quarterback in the position they have in mty and let him do his thing the others I think you put these other guys uh in a position to to make plays after get the catch and or or on the ground they haven’t really had an explosive running game so that means getting under Center to do it at least a little bit I get it it’s kind of a great segue to tomorrow’s show when we’re going to stay on the topic of the offense one way that you get more consistent is you know you put your players in better positions and and you evolve your scheme and you find ways to take advantage of matchups and you find those marginal advantages one way that you you get more consistent on offense and if the Bengals are more consistent on offense they’re scoring more than 30 points a game because we know that’s their capability right if they’re going well so so one of those ways to scheme one of the ways is the level the quarterback is playing the the level the quarterback is playing should be pretty high we’ve got a lot of confidence in Joe burrow but then beyond that it’s well have they figured out the offensive line questions this year what shakes out with these wide receiver battles what’s going on with the running back changes and the running game that will need to evolve without the bcow in and Joe Mixon and the desired change from the staff toward the running back by committee approach the running back changes tight end changes we’ll continue on those topics and get into the rest of the offense and the notable battles and things that we’ll be watching early and often in training camp coming up on tomorrow’s episode until then that’s going to do it for this episode of the lock on Bengals podcast HUD day and have

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow underwent surgery on his right wrist in November and missed the rest of the 2023 season. Will he be the same player this year? Should the Bengals give him rest days throughout training camp?

The guys answer those questions, plus they discuss ESPN’s recent quarterback rankings, the Bengals’ offensive scheme and more!

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