Joe Burrow in the 'best shape' of his life and 'ready' to play after unprecedented offseason

No. 1 Joe Burrow is ready to begin his rookie season, says he's in the best shape of his life

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow's first NFL offseason hasn't gone as planned due to COVID-19. 

Instead of working out at Paul Brown Stadium and getting to meet his teammates in person, he's had to try to get to know them virtually. He hasn't been able to throw to A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd or any other Bengals players since he was drafted in April. 

The last time he was in a room with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was in February at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. 

Despite the pandemic, Burrow was his usual confident self in an appearance on Good Morning America. 

"I feel great right now. I'm in the best shape of my life," Burrow said. "Everybody around the league is preparing like business as usual, like we're going to be reporting in a couple weeks and getting ready to play."

Burrow, 23, launched the 'Joe Burrow Hunger Relief Fund' this week. He appeared on the national morning show to discuss his goals for the new foundation. 

"In Athens County up to 20 percent of the people are food insecure," he said. "When I was in college I couldn't really help out financially. Now I'm finally in a position that I can help out financially as well."

As for the 2020 season, Burrow doesn't have any inside information. He knows football may look and feel different, but he's focused on preparing for his first year in the pros. 

"I'm in the dark just like everybody else," Burrow said. "I can't imagine there would be fans in the stands at the beginning. Maybe a few, but I'm preparing like I'm going to be the starting quarterback with 100,000 fans in the stands and I'm going to be ready to go."


Published
James Rapien
JAMES RAPIEN

James Rapien is the publisher of Bengals On SI. He's also the host of the Locked on Bengals podcast and Cincinnati Bengals Talk on YouTube. The Cincinnati native also wrote a book about the history of the Cincinnati Bengals called Enter The Jungle. Prior to joining Bengals On SI, Rapien worked at 700 WLW and ESPN 1530 in Cincinnati