The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 56, and now the quest back begins with the men protecting Joe Burrow.
Joe Burrow’s most painful moment of Super Bowl LVI was watching the final seconds tick off, realizing this shot at a championship was gone. The second worst pain occurred a few moments earlier, when a sack twisted him around, spraining his right knee and leaving the second-year star with a limp.
The good news? Burrow didn’t do serious damage to his knee as he did as a rookie, when he tore multiple ligaments in a November loss to the Washington Football Team. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL media, Burrow escaped disaster. Via NFL.com:
“Certainly not as bad as it was last offseason and really nothing as far as I can tell that’s going to drastically alter his offseason. From what I am told, Joe Burrow suffered an injury believed to be a sprain. He has had some tests, gonna get some more tests just to be absolutely sure because he’s got a lot of time and why would you mess around? But the belief is that surgery is not needed for Joe Burrow.”
Still, Burrow was sacked a league-high 70 times including the postseason, and for general manager Duke Tobin, that gives him an obvious place to start this winter.
For Tobin, there are options. At left tackle, Orlando Brown Jr. is likely to either be signed or tagged by the Kansas City Chiefs, but Terron Armstead could get to the open market. On the interior, Brandon Scherff would be an idea option at guard if he leaves Washington, putting a young All-Pro in a position to enjoy a bidding war. At center, Ryan Jensen is perhaps the best at his position and could cash in leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The big question is how much will theBengals spend? For more than a quarter-century, Cincinnati has always been frugal, but in the last two offseasons, Cincinnati has begun to spend money. Will ownership open the wallet even more with more than $50 million of cap space and an opportunity to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history should Burrow be kept upright?
If so, the Bengals won’t be a one-year wonder, and Burrow’s pain might dissipate in more ways than one.
