Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor met with reporters Monday and spoke about Joe Burrow’s injury and the return timetable.
While Taylor said he doesn’t know when Burrow will have surgery, the team expects him to be ready for the 2021 season — not necessarily the start of it, but that he’ll take the field at some point.
Taylor said the following, according to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.: “We expect him to have surgery and rehab and full recovery and be ready for the 2021 season.”
That followed a prior report from Dehner that confirmed the team views the injury as a nine-month recovery.
Earlier Monday, Burrow’s MRI results went public and revealed a tear of the ACL and MCL, with the vague descriptor “structural issues” thrown in there for good measure.
But descriptions aside, Taylor and the team sound optimistic about Burrow being ready to go for the regular season. Based on the suggested timeline, he’d miss the bulk of preseason work ahead of a mid-September Week 1 game — but these details are very much subject to change.
Dehner’s colleague, Jay Morrison, detailed what Taylor had to say about Burrow’s mindset right now:
Zac: Joe has been in great spirits on the bus, on the plane, in the facility today. Has responded as best as we could have expected.
We expect him to make a full recovery and be ready for the 2021 season.#Bengals
— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) November 23, 2020
