Bengals coach Zac Taylor does not yet know whether quarterback Joe Burrow will be available Monday night against the Rams, but the early signs have been encouraging.
Taylor told Rich Eisen that the Bengals will take their time evaluating Burrow’s calf injury but that that so far things are looking positive.
“It’s been an encouraging early part of the week,” Taylor said. “I’ve learned enough in my five years here to not assume anything. We’ll just take it day to day with him. He’s been a little sore early in the week, but we’ll see how it goes. Fortunately we get an extra day here.”
Burrow suffered the calf injury during a training camp practice, and then aggravated it in Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. Taylor indicated that the Bengals will be cautious with Burrow and not put him on the field if there’s any risk of making the injury worse.
“The No. 1 thing is Joe’s health, and making sure he’s healthy in the short term and the long term,” Taylor said.
Despite the Bengals’ 0-2 start and Burrow’s injury, Taylor said he feels good about where the team is heading. That feeling will be hard to sustain if the Bengals fall to 0-3 on Monday night.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 173 Modern-Era players who have been nominated for election in 2024.
Players must have played five full seasons and be retired for five years in order to be eligible for nomination. There are nine players who last played in 2018 and have been nominated in their first year of eligibility.
The group is headlined by former Panthers, Bears, and Packers defensive end Julius Peppers and former Chargers tight end Antonio Gates. It also includes wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Jordy Nelson; running back Jamaal Charles; offensive linemen T.J. Lang, Josh Sitton and Max Unger, and defensive lineman Haloti Ngata.
A semifinal group of 25 players will be announced in November and the group will be cut to 15 and 10 before the selection committee votes on five finalists. The committee will also consider Seniors finalists Randy Gradishar, Steve McMichael and Art Powell and Coach/Contributor finalist Buddy Parker, so there could be as many as nine inductees next year.
The full list of nominees is listed below by position:
Quarterbacks: Marc Bulger, Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Doug Flutie, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair, Tony Romo, Michael Vick.
Running backs/Fullbacks: Shaun Alexander, Terry Allen, Mike Alstott, Jamal Anderson, Tiki Barber, Michael Bates, Jamaal Charles, Larry Centers, Stephen Davis, Corey Dillon, Warrick Dunn, Charlie Garner, Eddie George, Ahman Green, Priest Holmes, Steven Jackson, Chris Johnson, Daryl Johnston, Thomas Jones, John Kuhn, Vonta Leach, Dorsey Levens, Jamal Lewis, Eric Metcalf, Glyn Milburn, Lorenzo Neal, Tony Richardson, Robert Smith, Fred Taylor, Chris Warren, Ricky Watters, Brian Westbrook, Ricky Williams.
Wide receivers: Anquan Boldin, Troy Brown, Donald Driver, Antonio Freeman, Irving Fryar, Dante Hall, Devin Hester, Torry Holt, Joe Horn, Andre Johnson, Chad Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Derrick Mason, Herman Moore, Muhsin Muhammad, Jordy Nelson, Andre Rison, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Steve Smith, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker.
Tight ends: Ben Coates, Antonio Gates, Wesley Walls.
Offensive linemen: Willie Anderson, Bruce Armstrong, Matt Birk, Lomas Brown, Ruben Brown, Jahri Evans, Kevin Glover, Olin Kreutz, T.J. Lang, Matt Light, Nick Mangold, Logan Mankins, Tom Nalen, Nate Newton, Jeff Saturday, Mark Schlereth, Josh Sitton, Chris Snee, Mark Stepnoski, Dave Szott, Max Unger, Brian Waters, Richmond Webb, Erik Williams, Steve Wisniewski.
Defensive linemen: John Abraham, Jared Allen, Dwight Freeney, La’Roi Glover, Casey Hampton, Robert Mathis, Haloti Ngata, Leslie O’Neal, Julius Peppers, Simeon Rice, Justin Smith, Neil Smith, Dana Stubblefield, Henry Thomas, Justin Tuck, Ted Washington, Vince Wilfork, Jamal Williams, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams.
Linebackers: Jesse Armstead, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Cornelius Bennett, Lance Briggs, Keith Brooking, NaVorro Bowman, Tedy Bruschi, Karlos Dansby, Donnie Edwards, James Farrior, London Fletcher, James Harrison, Larry Izzo, Willie McGinest, Hardy Nickerson, Ken Norton Jr., Bryce Paup, Julian Peterson, Joey Porter, Takeo Spikes, Jessie Tuggle, Mike Vrabel, Patrick Willis, Al Wilson, Lee Woodall.
Defensive backs: Eric Allen, Kam Chancellor, Nick Collins, Antonio Cromartie, Dré Bly, Merton Hanks, Rodney Harrison, Carnell Lake, Tim McDonald, Eugene Robinson, Samari Rolle, Allen Rossum, Bob Sanders, Charles Tillman, Troy Vincent, Antoine Winfield, Darren Woodson.
Kickers: David Akers, Gary Anderson, Jason Elam, Jason Hanson, John Kasay, Matt Stover, Mike Vanderjagt.
Punters: Darren Bennett, Jeff Feagles, Sean Landeta, Shane Lechler, Brad Maynard, Pat McAfee, Brian Moorman, Matt Turk.
Special teams: Josh Cribbs, Brian Mitchell.
Any discussion about what the Bengals need to do to improve on offense is contingent on quarterback Joe Burrow’s calf allowing him to play at something close to full speed, but wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase knows what he wants to see.
Through two games, the Bengals’ longest completion was a short pass that running back Joe Mixon broke for a 32-yard gain against the Ravens. Chase has been limited to 10 catches for 70 yards and said Monday that the group is “finding the motions” early in the season.
Chase also said that he believes going deep would be a step in the right direction in the weeks to come.
"[Gotta get] some go routes in there − just some downfield shots that way we can come back to anything else underneath,” Chase said, via Shelby Dermer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We really haven’t taken that many shots downfield. If you look at the last two games, you don’t really see that many shots downfield. We gotta take more shots downfield. That’s why we have deep-threat guys. Take a chance.”
Any move to incorporate more deep shots into the offense will likely be tied to Burrow’s health. The team didn’t offer much of an update about Burrow’s outlook on Monday, but the hope around the team will certainly be that he’s well enough to help the unit get back to its old level of productivity.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will remain on the injury report this week with his calf injury, but it seems unlikely his streak of full practices continues.
Burrow aggravated his strained right calf near the end of Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, though he played all 60 snaps.
“He’s still sore today,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Monday, via a live stream from the team.
Taylor didn’t offer much more of an update on the most famous calf muscle in Cincinnati.
The Bengals play the Rams on Monday night in Week 3, giving Burrow an extra day, but Taylor said the team currently is uncertain whether Burrow can go.
“That’s hard to say right now,” Taylor said. “You know he did it really in one of the last three plays of the game probably. He’s just sore. We haven’t done anything on the field yet.”
The Bengals remain in the evaluation process, Taylor added.
“First of all, we’ve got to hear what the doctors have to say before we start to assume anything,” he said. “Once we get that information, we can figure out what we’re going to do.”
Burrow originally strained his calf on the second day of training camp and did not return to practice until after the preseason. The team has listed him as a full practice participant in each of the six regular-season practices thus far.
Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Burrow did not wear a boot in the locker room Monday and he was “walking without a noticeable limp.”
Burrow has thrown for only 304 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the Bengals’ two games, both losses.
The Chiefs have done something that needed to be done.
With quarterback Patrick Mahomes falling a full $10 million per year behind the top of the market at his position in the aftermath of the new contract signed by Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, the Chiefs and Mahomes have worked out a new contract that, as a practical matter, will carry the relationship through 2026 without further adjustment. He remained signed into the next decade.
Per a source with knowledge of the deal, it includes no new money. Instead, payments were moved around to enhance the cash flow for Mahomes.
Mahomes will now receive $208.1 million from 2023 through 2026. All of it is guaranteed for injury.
Under the adjusted contract, Mahomes receives $56.85 million in 2023 (he had already earned $35 million under the existing deal), $44.5 million in 2024, $50 million in 2025, and $56.76 million in 2026.
He’s also due to receive $59.2 million in 2027. The ensuing $261 million over five years outpaces the other quarterback contracts during that same window.
Again, the contract is structured to be revisited after the 2026 season.
The latest adjustment was a long time coming. But the Burrow deal needed to be done before the Chiefs and Mahomes could make the most intelligent assessment of the amounts to be committed to Mahomes.