Early in the preseason, after Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow injured his calf during training camp, his best player and best friend at LSU, Ja’Marr Chase, said that he thought Burrow would have to sit out until Week 5 if he wasn’t 100%.
“I told him that, in all honesty, I didn’t want him there,” Chase said on NFL Network on August 4. “Same thing with me last year. I missed an extra game just to let my hip fully heal, and you don’t want to cause any other problems later in the season, and I told him, as long as you’re here after week 5 and beyond, we’re good brothers.”
Two weeks into the 2023 season, Chase appears to be onto something. The Bengals are 0-2, and without the ability to put as much of his lower body into these throws, Burrow can’t connect on his patented deep ball. Highest paid player in the NFL on an annual basis – Burrow signed a $275 million contract extension over five years on September 9 – is 0 for 12 on throws of 15 or more air yards this season. It’s 0-for-8 for receiver Tee Higgins, 0-for-3 for Chase and 0-for-1 for tight end Irv Smith Jr. That’s unprecedented for Burrow, as he’s only played ‘only one game without completing 15 or more air yards in his first 42 career starts. Now he’s done it in back-to-back games. Over the past two seasons, Burrow led the NFL with 27 passing touchdowns of 15 or more air yards.
Joe Burrow completing throws of over 15 air yards (last 3 seasons)
|
PCT Comp |
51% (2nd) |
0% (0-12, last in NFL) |
|
TD-INT |
27-9* (1st) |
0-1 (T-last in NFL) |
| Passing grade | 117.1 (1st) | 4.9 (30th) |
* Most passing touchdowns on throws of 15+ air yards from 2021 to 2022
“Gotta have some routes in there, just some shots downfield,” Chase said Monday, via Fox 19 in Cincinnati. “That way we can go back to anything else underneath.”
The Bengals WR1 declined to directly blame Burrow’s calf injury for the lack of synergy with the deep ball when asked if that was the reason for the struggles.
“I don’t know,” Chase said. “I mean, we haven’t really shot that many shots down the court. You look at the last two games, you don’t really see that many shots down the court. We need to shoot more shots down the court. down the field. I mean, that’s why we deep-threat guys. Take a chance.
If Cincy decided to allow Burrow to rest – unlikely given his 0-2 start – but if that were the case, what would his potential options look like? In terms of roster options, the Bengals have two possibilities: Jake Browning – who threw his only career NFL incomplete pass in the Bengals’ 24-3 Week 1 loss to the Cleveland Browns – or practice squad quarterback Will Grier.
Grier, 28, a former star player at West Virginia, is eligible for both promotion to the active roster or at least three one-week call-ups from the scout team. A third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2019, Grier spent all of 2021 inactive on the Dallas Cowboys roster, and he also did not play a game for the Panthers in 2020. He sat out a few games as Cooper Rush’s backup in 2022 when he replaced injured Dak Prescott, but he did not receive game action. He has two career NFL starts since the end of his rookie season in Carolina. He completed 53% of his passes while throwing four picks and no touchdowns. Grier’s last start came in the Cowboys’ preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders, where he played the best game of his professional career: he threw for 305 passing yards and two touchdowns on 29 of 35 passes while rushing for 53 yards and two touchdowns. out of 10 races. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy called it “the best preseason quarterback performance he’s seen since probably 1999“.
If the Bengals are looking for outside options, some short-term solutions could be former 2016 NFL Draft second overall pick Carson Wentz (unsigned), 2016 NFL MVP Matt Ryan (unsigned) , Bengals all-time touchdown leader Andy Dalton (currently on Panthers, expected to be acquired via trade), Browns 2022 backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett (currently on Commanders, expected to be acquired via trade) or 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton (unsigned).
