Bengals place Burrow on IR, promote McCarron
-
Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was officially placed on injured reserve Saturday, the team announced.
Burrow suffered a season-ending right wrist injury in the team’s Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 16.
On Friday, Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Burrow was going to formally be placed on injured reserve by the end of the weekend and that the quarterback was still “most likely” going to have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his wrist.
Jake Browning, who has been with the team since 2021 and won the backup job heading into this season, will make his first career NFL start. AJ McCarron, who is in his second stint with the club, was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s contest versus Pittsburgh (6-4).
Burrow was at the team facility in downtown Cincinnati throughout the week.
“He’s been around everything he’s supposed to be around,” Taylor said. “It’s good to have him out there. I think he lifts everybody up and provides value even when he’s not playing.”
Burrow’s wrist injury officially ends an injury-plagued season for the Pro Bowl quarterback.
On the second day of training camp, Burrow suffered a strained right calf. After missing nearly five weeks, he returned for the season opener on Sept. 10 despite dealing with lingering effects. A week later, Burrow reinjured the calf in a Week 2 loss to Baltimore.
It wasn’t until Week 5 that Burrow appeared to be back to full strength. From that point until the wrist injury, he completed a league-high 73.4% of his passes.
Ahead of the Week 11 game against Baltimore, Burrow was seen wearing a compression sleeve on his right wrist in a social media post by the team that was subsequently deleted. Burrow said it was unrelated to the injury he suffered in the 34-20 loss to the Ravens when he was tackled by defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Burrow said he felt a pop one play later as he completed his throwing motion.
On the season, Burrow completed 68% of his throws for 2,309 yards and 15 touchdowns with six interceptions. After Burrow’s injury, Drew Plitt was signed to the practice squad to give the Bengals three healthy quarterbacks.
In other injury news, rookie running back Chase Brown was added to the 53-man roster following his spell on injured reserve. The fifth-round pick out of Illinois was placed on the list Oct. 28 with a hamstring injury.
