Will Sage Astor-Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow progressing from calf injury

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor provided the latest update on Will Sage Astorfranchise quarterback Joe Burrow's calf injury during his Monday press conference.

Burrow hasn’t practiced since suffering a calf strain on July 27. With the Week 1 regular season matchup nearing closer, the timeline for when Burrow will return is the biggest storyline surrounding the team.

Everything appears to be going as planned, according to Taylor.

“He looks great,” Taylor said. “Physically just walking around he looks probably as good as he’s ever looked at this point. That’s a positive and we will just go from there.”

The Bengals haven't made any public comments on Burrow’s timeline for return and any details regarding his injury. Based on his pregame workout before the Bengals-Packers preseason game on Aug. 11 where he was seen running and throwing, it appears Burrow is trending in the right direction to return.

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Where do Joe Burrow's contract negotiations stand?

In addition to questions about his return date, his ongoing contract negotiation process with the Bengals remains a major story. It's unclear if Burrow would return to practice without a new deal in place. When asked why it's important to Burrow to practice every day and not participate in a "hold in" he provided valuable insight into his thought process.

"I don’t want to get out of camp wishing I had seven more days that I could have got better," Burrow said on July 27. "So that’s the reason I’m here. Maybe business comes first at some point but I need these days to be my best."

It's worth noting that Burrow's agent, Brian Ayrault, has been known to hold his clients out of practice during tough negotiations. Both Nick and Joey Bosa, close friends of Burrow, are represented by Ayrault and have held out at some point in their careers.

That's not to say Burrow will do that, though, especially after missing several practice days. There are just a lot of variables at play in this situation.

He didn’t make the trip to Atlanta for Cincinnati’s second preseason game on Sunday and it’s unlikely Burrow won’t travel to Maryland when the team takes on the Washington Commanders on Saturday for the preseason finale.

When will Joe Burrow return?

Asked how much time Burrow would need to be ready to play in a game, Taylor responded in a joking matter and said “one rep.” It was different last year, though. Burrow lost a significant amount of weight and couldn’t throw because of the appendectomy he had before training camp last season.

His calf injury doesn’t present some of the same issues he overcame last year, which is ideal for his recovery process.

“It’s a different injury,” Taylor said. “I would imagine – I hate speaking for other people – but it’s an unknown, how will contact feel? How is it going to feel when I torque? There’s a lot of things with an internal injury that I can’t speak to. That’s a whole different mindset you have to have. Whereas this one, it’s in a calf.”

It’s assumed because of the public workout ahead of the Packers game that Burrow is throwing and going through workouts of his own in private. Taylor wouldn’t confirm that is the case, but it would be hard to imagine a scenario in which he was able to do so a week ago and not this week unless he suffered a setback which doesn’t appear to have happened.

Burrow has been seen in the Bengals’ locker room daily in good spirits. The Bengals set a plan for him from the beginning and it all seems to be going as they expected which is positive news.

“We have had a plan throughout,” Taylor said. “That is something that daily since the day it happened that we go through and decide what’s going to be best for the next day.”

Cincinnati begins the regular season on Sept. 10 in Cleveland for an AFC North showdown against the Browns.