Ja'Marr Chase doubles down on Joe Burrow injury comments

Ja’Marr Chase isn’t walking back his comments on Joe Burrow‘s calf injury. He wants the quarterback to take his sweet time returning … even if that means missing a few regular season games.

Burrow sustained a calf injury during training camp. At first, it appeared to be a pretty significant issue, with the quarterback getting carted off the field. A calf injury seems to be a much better situation, though those can still linger.

Many believe Burrow is done for training camp and the preseason. Chase took it a step further, saying he doesn’t want to see the QB on the field in Week 1 of the regular season. He recently doubled down on that remark.

“I just want him a hundred percent healthy to play, I don’t want him rushing nothing, I don’t want people in his ear telling him to play a certain time,” Chase said, per Olivia Ray of WLWT.

Ja'Marr Chase doubles down on the comments he made to @AndrewSiciliano this week >>> he doesn't want Burrow to play Week 1 in CLE.

"I just want him a hundred percent healthy to play, I don't want him rushing nothing, I don't want people in his ear telling him to play a certain… pic.twitter.com/tkxdFw84L0

— Olivia Ray (@OliviaRayTV) August 6, 2023

The point Chase has been trying to make? He doesn’t want Burrow to rush back to the field and risk further injury. He’d rather the quarterback be at full strength and miss a few early-season games.

That way, when the playoffs roll around, the Bengals won’t have to worry about any lingering issues. At least as it relates to Burrow’s calf injury.

“I told him, in all honesty, I don’t want him there,” Chase told NFL Network earlier in the week, per Pro Football Talk. “I sat out an extra game just to let my hip heal all the way up. You don’t want to cause problems later in the season. As long as you’re there after Week Five and on, we’re good, brother.”

Doesn’t sound like Chase will back down from that stance.

When will Joe Burrow return?

We all know when Chase wants Burrow to return, but when will the quarterback actually step back on the field? ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes two things must line up: his injury recovery and a new contract.

“Zac Taylor said that strained calf is going to sideline him ‘several weeks.’ Which, I think happens to be about the same amount of time it should take both sides to figure out a contract extension, several weeks,” Schefter said on ESPN. “So, I think the timeline for a contract extension marries up nicely with his recovery from a strained calf injury. He is not going to be out there, he is not practicing, wasn’t practicing yesterday, don’t think he’ll be out there today. I don’t think we’ll see him on a practice field again until the contractual situation is figured out. When he goes down and is carted off, obviously, the worst fears go through everybody. But a calf strain is the best case for everybody.

“And calves can linger, they’re problematic. But the season is about six weeks away. There’s time for him to rest it. And you’ll notice that when he went down on that play, he had a sleeve on that calf. Because the day before, it was sore anyway. It was already irritated. He was guarding against it, he aggravated it and I think that’s probably a little bit of a warning, ‘Let’s not get back out there until that new deal is done.’”