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Bengals 'Encouraged' By MRI of Joe Burrow's Knee

There is hope that Burrow will return for the start of the 2021 season

James Rapien

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a torn left ACL and MCL is Sunday's loss to Washington. He also has damage to his PCL and meniscus. 

The Bengals remain optimistic that the 23-year-old will make a full recovery. The team was happy with what they saw in Burrow

"It was kind of in line with what they thought following Sunday," NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo said on Tuesday. "I am told that actually they were encouraged by what they saw with the imaging on Monday. They know it's going to be a long, thorough rehab process. Now you can compare this to Carson Wentz a couple of years ago because Wentz had an ACL and an LCL tear, so a multi-ligament injury. It just adds a little bit more when you're coming back from these things. It's not like it's a completely devastating thing that you're really never going to be able to come back from. And if you want to compare it to the Wentz timeline, Wentz tore his ACL and LCL on December 10. So Joe Burrow a little ahead of that and Wentz ended up missing the first two weeks of the following season because the Eagles really followed the research on that one that said there's a certain amount of time that you should sit a guy out. We'll see if Burrow's ready for Week 1, but I do know that there is a lot of confidence that he's going to come back fully from this one. Maybe not 100% by the start of next season, but perhaps on the field for the start of next season."

Former NFL head team doctor and sports medical expert David Chao believes Burrow will be ready for Week 1 of the 2021 season. 

Time will tell if Chao's prognosis is correct, but it is encouraging to know that there appears to be a realistic chance that Burrow will be able to return to the field the start of next season. 

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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

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