Bengals' Joe Burrow expects to be cleared from injury by May - ESPN

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow is still sketching out his recovery timeline after surgery to repair a torn wrist ligament in his throwing hand.

But if things continue to go according to plan, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has a date set on when he is likely to be completely cleared this offseason.

«I think middle of May is when I am expecting to kind of be cleared for full contact and everything,» Burrow told ESPN on Sunday. «Over the next month [to] month and a half, we'll kind of decide all those things.»

Burrow said Cincinnati's organized team activities is when he anticipates returning to full throwing sessions. He has started throwing small medicine balls as he returns from the season-ending surgery he suffered Nov. 16 in the team's Week 11 loss to Baltimore.

The quarterback, who just wrapped up his fourth NFL season, said the timeline isn't far off from what an offseason has looked like for him the past couple of years. Burrow said he normally doesn't start throwing until OTAs. The time off has given him an extra 12 weeks to recover and work on any «inefficiencies and weaknesses» as the Bengals look to bounce back from missing the playoffs in 2023.

«I can lift basically normally now, which I'm excited about,» Burrow said in comments following a marketing event for his work with Guinness. «So the next two months, I'll basically be just doing what I've done for the last couple of years Just the 12 weeks of extra work in the rearview.»

Last season, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft played in 10 games before the ligament tear. He completed 66.8% of his passes for 15 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Burrow's season was bookended by injury issues. He had suffered a strained right calf on the second day of training