Joe Burrow’s Injury: NFL Is Investigating The Bengals For Not Disclosing It

Joe Burrow’s injury

Joe Burrow’s injury happened midway through the second quarter against the Ravens on November 16, 2023. The QB was spotted by fans with something on his right wrist the day prior, then after throwing a touchdown pass to Joe Mixon, he doubled over and went to the sideline. Footage shows him trying to throw but he couldn’t grip the ball and was visibly frustrated.

Later, Bengals coach Zac Taylor confirmed in the post-game press conference that Burrow suffered a sprained wrist; though he was light on the details to reporters. “He felt it early in the game,” he said. “All the information I have is two seconds worth and then we went to try to win the game.” When pressed, Taylor said: “That was the first I saw anything about it,” Taylor said, adding that he “absolutely” felt confident of Burrow’s health going into the game.

On Friday November 17, 2023, the NFL confirmed Burrow would be out for the reason of the season with a torn ligament, which requires surgery.

Bengals fined for not reporting Joe Burrow’s injury

In since-deleted footage shared on the Bengals’ social media accounts, you can see what looks to be some sort of brace or binding on the QB’s wrist in question as Burrow got off the team’s bus on Wednesday. It has sparked somewhat of a conspiracy among fans, who claim Taylor was hiding the fact that Burrow was injured all along. Local reporter Caleb Noe shared the video on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

“Lots of talk about a deleted #Bengals post, which showed Joe Burrow wearing some type of brace or sleeve on his right wrist. Here’s a video of Burrow getting off the team bus in Baltimore. Not a perfectly clear shot, but you can definitely see it on his hand,” he wrote. “To be clear – I’m not suggesting that Joe is hurt. This could be a number of different things (hence the words “brace or sleeve”). I’m just confirming that he was, indeed, wearing something on his hand when the team arrived in Baltimore.”

He continued: “For anyone who sees this: I don’t want credit for being “right”. I wasn’t “right” on anything. It’s a journalist’s responsibility to report notable things that he/she sees. That’s all I did. Hope Joe is okay.”

According to Adam Schefter, ESPN NFL Insider, it prompted an investigation by the league. “The NFL is investigating why the Bengals did not list QB Joe Burrow on their injury report when the team posted a picture of him wearing a device on his wrist Wednesday night and he appeared to be hampered by the injury early in the Thursday night game that he later left, the league confirmed today,” he tweeted. 

“The initial picture of Burrow wearing a device that looked like a soft cast on his thumb was posted by the Bengals, only to be deleted later. The NFL routinely looks into matters of compliance with the Injury Report policy, and will do so in this instance as well. Teams can be fined or even potentially lose a draft pick.”

This kind of thing has happened before. In 2019, the NFL fined the Pittsburgh Steelers $75,000 and coach Mike Tomlin $25,000 for violating the injury report policy by not accurately listing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the practice report before the team’s Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks.

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