CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was carted off the practice field after he came up hobbling from a scramble on Thursday.
The 26-year-old franchise quarterback hobbled on one leg and then went to the ground after the play near the end of the afternoon practice.
Coach Zac Taylor later said it was a calf injury. Burrow was wearing a sleeve on it and came up limping.
Several teammates gathered around while trainers tended to the Pro Bowl quarterback before he was helped on to the back of a cart.
“Sometimes players feel a little sore after the first day,” Taylor said when asked about Burrow wearing the sleeve on his right calf.
“I’m not the expert here, but my gut says Joe will be OK,” center Ted Karras said in the locker room.
“I'm not going to talk about another player's injuries, but I know about calf strains all too well, and they are painful but aren't the end of the world,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said. “They do linger a bit, but I think the training staff and Joe are going to do the right thing and to take care of this early in camp and be ready to go.”
Burrow is still negotiating with the Bengals on a long-term contract that could make him one of the NFL's highest-paid players.
Burrow had talked Wednesday about how good he felt at the opening of camp after his first three NFL training camps were disrupted and how he hoped to play in some preseason games.
Preseason practice was truncated in Burrow's rookie year in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2001, he was still rehabbing after knee surgery the previous December. On the first day of camp last year, he was stricken with appendicitis.
“I feel in my position I don’t want to waste any of these days that I have to get better,” he said. “I’ve wasted enough days over the last two years with injuries, appendicitis, COVID year before that. I don’t want to get out of camp wishing I had seven more days that I could have got better.”
