Bengals' Joe Burrow 'Ready to Go' vs. Browns in Week 1 After Calf Injury Recovery

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow practiced in full Wednesday, setting him up to play in the team's season opener against the Cleveland Browns.

Burrow has been working his way back from a calf injury suffered in an early training camp practice. He returned to practice for the first time last week.

"I'm ready to go," Burrow told reporters after practice.

The LSU product has never worked through a full preseason or training camp during his four-year career. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the 2020 preseason, Burrow was recovering from a torn ACL in 2021, and in 2022 he underwent an emergency appendectomy.

The lack of preseason work has not hurt Burrow whatsoever as he's emerged as one of the NFL's premier passers. He threw for 4,475 yards and 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions last season, earning his first Pro Bowl berth. The Bengals reached the AFC Championship game for the second straight season for the first time in franchise history.

NFL executives have also placed their full faith in Burrow, voting him as the favorite to win the 2023 MVP in a poll conducted by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

"He's in the fourth year in [Zac Taylor's] system, he's had the same receivers for all four of those years, same coaches, same offensive line for the most part," an AFC executive told Fowler. "He's refined. It's another level of advancement that comes each year. I thought he was playing as good as Mahomes late last year."

The only other quarterback on the Bengals' active roster is Jake Browning, a 27-year-old undrafted free agent who has never taken a regular-season NFL snap. Browning beat out veteran Trevor Siemian in training camp for the starting job, but it's unlikely he would have been the only other quarterback on Cincinnati's 53-man roster without confidence in Burrow's status.