Bengals great wants to see Joe Burrow pull Matthew Stafford for safety

Joe Burrow’s turf toe surgery will take place Friday while his Cincinnati Bengals prep to play against the Minnesota Vikings.

In the interim, everyone dissects the situation, how it happened and what it might mean for the future.

One conversation that keeps popping up? The idea of Burrow changing his play style to better prevent injuries.

That’s something Bengals great Andrew Whitworth just suggested during a sitdown with The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., throwing out a very interesting point of comparison.

“I’d love to see Burrow in his identity start to think — Matthew Stafford,” Whitworth said. “In the sense of, man, I need to probably live in a world where the ball is coming out of my hand and maybe it’s sailing out of bounds, maybe it’s in the ground, but I can’t sit here and live in a world where I think I’m gonna run around all the time, just because it’s proven — not that you can’t — but it’s proven you have been a little injury-prone in situations like that.”

A nuanced combination of poor line play, scheme and Burrow wanting to extend plays has led to him taking an inordinate amount of hits over the last few years. Stafford, by comparison, is one of the safer pocket passers in the league.

Rest assured this is one of those things buzzing around Burrow right now when it comes to risk management. And Stafford is indeed one of the examples of longevity in the NFL for good reason.

General estimations for a Grade 3 turf toe put a three-month recovery as the best-case scenario timetable for Burrow’s return. Hence, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor not ruling out Burrow’s return at some point this season when asked earlier this week.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals great wants to see Joe Burrow pull Matthew Stafford for safety

Bengals great wants to see Joe Burrow pull Matthew Stafford for safety

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