QB Rehab Assignments Will Determine Course Of NFL's 2024 Season

The Cincinnati Bengals released a quick video of quarterback Joe Burrow moving around and throwing some passes inside the team's new indoor practice facility Monday and, oh my God, people in parts of Ohio just about lost their minds.

Because there was Joey B, his fabulous hair bouncing, his torque apparently good, his spin as tight as ever, and all of it captured in fabulous slow motion.

Bengals Fire Up The Fan Base

"He looked as quick and as athletic as I've seen him look," Bengals quarterback coach Brad Kragthorpe said. "He looked like the Joe Burrow we're used to seeing. I didn't see any difference. I thought the ball came out of his hand well. Confidently…"

And, of course, this is only one phase of the Bengals' offseason conditioning program. There's a long way to go before the regular season. But the Bengals are obviously feeding off this and the rest of us should get used it. 

Because this hopeful and over-the-top reaction to something so simple as an offseason throwing session is playing over and over throughout the NFL.

That's what happens when a good percentage of NFL teams have quarterbacks coming back from serious injuries.

That's what happens when everyone knows how the players' recovery will determine what kind of season the teams will have.

Injured QBs Make Their Comebacks

It's happening at the New York Jets training camp where Aaron Rodgers is throwing and improving after last season's Achilles injury.

It's happening with the New York Giants because they're looking to Daniel Jones and his recovery from ACL surgery.

Same for Justin Herbert in Los Angeles, where the Chargers quarterback started 2023 with left Labrum surgery, then suffered a fractured finger in each hand, including the one that ended his season prematurely after Week 14.

It applies in Atlanta, where Kirk Cousins is also returning from an achilles injury that cut his season short in Minnesota last season and was partly the reason he moved on to the Falcons.

Anthony Richardson 100%?

It applies to Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis, where he's six months past shoulder surgery to repair his AC Joint. 

Richardson is telling teammates he "feels" 100% and will be good to go whenever the club's doctors and trainers unleash him – likely by the middle of training camp.

And, of course, this also applies in Cleveland where Deshaun Watson is making his way back from the shoulder injury that stopped and started the quarterback's 2023 season multiple times before he was finally shut down in November after only six starts.

So, yes, fans are understandably excited about what is otherwise a routine throwing session. And teams are excited to deliver the news that everything's going to be alright because the 2024 season really is already at stake.

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

(Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Bengals With Burrow Are A Problem

For Burrow, any sign of him being healthy is like throwing a T-Bone into a tiger pit. It gets devoured because Burrow's career has been detoured a lot since he was drafted in 2020.

He blew out a knee and that prevented him from completing his rookie year. He spent all of the 2021 offseason rehabilitating and missed practically all of training camp that year.

He suffered a bout of appendicitis that required surgery and forced him to miss all of training camp in 2022. And days into camp last year – after he spoke of finally honing his game in training camp – he was sidelined for the remainder of camp when he suffered a calf injury.

And just when his legs were feeling good again around late October, Burrow suffered a wrist ligament injury that at first seemed mysterious and actually led to an NFL investigation. 

Now here's the issue: The Bengals have been to the Super Bowl when Burrow's healthy. They went to two AFC championship games with Burrow healthy.

So if Burrow is healthy, the Bengals are a dangerous team. Without him, and they've been without him for 16 games over the past four seasons, they're just another team.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 11: Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets is helped off the field for an apparent injury during a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on September 11, 2023 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Rodgers Can Still ‘Sling it’

We know the same is true of the Jets when they don't have Rodgers. You'll recall the Super Bowl talk of last summer surrounding the Jets – much of it created by the Jets themselves – lasted only four plays into the 2023 season.

That's when Rodgers suffered his achilles injury and the Jets became irrelevant. Rodgers has been off and on in the team's conditioning program but should join full time later when the work gets more serious.

"I know he's had a couple of prior engagements that he's taken care of, but he's here, he's working," coach Robert Saleh told reporters last week. "The guy can still sling it. Obviously, he's still working through his rehab, but no issues on the trajectory.

"Once phase three hits, we're not anticipating any restrictions from what we can and can't do with him."

With Rodgers, the Jets hope they can unseat the Buffalo Bills from their four-year run as AFC East champions. Without Rodgers, the Jets will likely be searching for a new coach next January.

Across town, the Giants are hopeful Daniel Jones can return to his 2022 standard, but to do that he has to overcome the ACL injury he suffered last year.

The Giants' may not yet be ready to win the NFC East, even with Jones. But they need him healthy and playing well to reward the confidence the personnel and coaching staff have shown in him this offseason.

Kirk Cousins Story Has Two Possibilities

The Falcons showed a lot of confidence in Cousins, signing him to a $180 million deal at the start of free agency. The reason for that is the Falcons believe themselves one quarterback away from contending for the NFC South title and Cousins is their guy.

But that comes with a caveat, because the draft indicated the Falcons believed they were two quarterbacks away from being settled at the position the next five years.

So Cousins will soon get about the business of bringing the Falcons back to relevance. Or he'll get about the business of playing elsewhere within a couple of years after he cedes his starting job to Michael Penix Jr.

But no pressure, Kirk.

The truth is all these quarterbacks coming off injuries are under the proverbial microscope. And anything they do to show progress now is a big deal, because when they're fully healthy, they'll help write the story of the coming season.