Joe Burrow Injury Update: Will the Bengals QB Be Ready by Week 1? Sportsbooks Seem Unsure

Joe Burrow was carted off the field with an injury in Thursday’s practice and had all Cincinnati Bengals fans worrying that he could potentially miss a lot of time in 2023.

Thankfully for them, PFN’s Bengals reporter Jay Morrison reported that a team source revealed to him that it was just a calf strain. Yesterday, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed this report and said that Burrow will miss “several weeks” due to the injury. Luckily for the Bengals, Burrow suffered the injury at the very beginning of training camp.

Will Joe Burrow Be Ready for Week 1?

Week 1 of the NFL season is six weeks away, and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that it’s unlikely that Burrow will miss the season opener at the Cleveland Browns. The sportsbooks, on the other hand, aren’t totally convinced that Burrow will be active.

After the Bengals were 2.5-point favorites vs. the Browns, the oddsmakers have made slight adjustments due to an abundance of caution surrounding Burrow’s injury. The Bengals are now just 1.5-point favorites as of Saturday mid-afternoon at FanDuel Sportsbook, and the spread even dropped as far down as Bengals -1 earlier today.

Sportsbooks such as BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, and PointsBet have taken the game off the board entirely, meaning it’s unavailable for their customers to bet on for the time being.

Quarterbacks have by far the most value to the point spread of any position in the NFL, especially ones as talented as Burrow. Meaning, if the oddsmakers were 100% convinced that Burrow was going to miss Week 1, they would’ve moved the line even further in the Browns’ direction. Having said that, these adjustments alone may make Bengals fans less optimistic about Burrow’s Week 1 availability.

Although they may be unsure about Week 1, the oddsmakers remain confident that if Burrow were to miss time in 2023, it wouldn’t be much, as they didn’t make any adjustments to the Bengals’ futures odds.

Who Would Start in Place of Joe Burrow?

Taylor told reporters yesterday that Jake Browning and Trevor Siemian will split the first-team reps in Burrow’s absence and compete for the backup quarterback spot. Siemian has 30 career starts under his belt, but Browning has yet to attempt a pass in an NFL game since going undrafted in 2019. In yesterday’s first practice without Burrow, however, Browning looked “calm and cool” running the first-team offense.