Congratulation: Joe Burrow Becomes Highest-Paid NFL NFL Player At $67 Million Per Year After Agreeing To….

Joe Burrow is coming off a somewhat concerning procedure for his right (throwing) wrist.

And we finally have an expert giving us a realistic idea of what to expect.

Orthopedic surgeon Jeffrey Kutsikovich told A to Z Sports’s John Sheeran that Burrow will have to be careful with his surgically repaired wrist, saying:

“He’s going to definitely need to listen to his body a little bit… Part of it is dealing with on-and-off inflammation after this surgery for quite some time. I would probably expect him to have on-and-off problems from a soreness standpoint for about a year…”

The thing is, a lot of that inflammation will be out of his control. Here’s what Dr. Kutsikovich said about that:

Part of it isn’t physical mechanics of the wrist, separating, or the ligament sailing or the repair failing. It’s from inflammation that can get stirred up as a result of just recovering from the injury… For example, if he’s got a short week and he’s practicing, he gets what’s called synovitis, which is just inflammation of the wrist. That’s something he’ll think about every time he throws the ball.

The board-certified surgeon who specializes in hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder repair said that “medications” and “various types of injections” can help him work through the discomfort.

So what about the wrist getting worse?
Well, if Burrow has another 300 pound defensive lineman land on his wrist, he could be in big trouble.

“Throwing is not high stress on the wrist, per se,” said Dr. Kutsikovich. Rather, the bigger concern is getting tackled. “Ultimately, the wrist kind of bears the brunt of a fall, and the question is, ‘How is his body going to respond to the first few hits?’”

And, as Sheeran explains, a re-tear of the ligament would require reconstructive surgery, which no one would want to see.

Will Burrow make a full recovery?
Dr. Kutsikovich explained that while orthopedic surgeries usually have a success rate of 90-95%, Burrow’s surgery, a scapholunate ligament repair surgery, only has a success rate of 75-80%.

“The big long-term problem with this specific injury is the results of the repair are not as consistent with the results of repairs in, let’s say, other joints,” said Dr. Kutsikovich.

Hopefully, a revamped offensive line will be able to keep the QB upright, and he makes a full recovery.

We interviewed Sheeran to talk about his report in the video below:

Josh Newton, the Bengals rookie cornerback who once went viral after making a speech to his college teammates, arrived Thursday for Friday morning’s rookie minicamp without any prepared marks.

“It depends which one you’re talking about because I’ve done a lot of speeches,” Newton says.

Of course, that memorable, emotional talk a couple of years ago in front of his new Texas Christian teammates exhorting them to put it all on the line as a family of coaches, players, and trainers wasn’t planned, either.

“Ask God why he told me to say it. All my words come from here,” says Newton, covering his chest. “It’s not about giving speeches. It’s about leading. It’s about workouts, the meetings, being on time. Making sure all the guys know what’s going on. It’s the small things.”

Newton, who is 23 going on 33 but actually turns 24 the day before the opener, has been viewed as a draft day steal with the 149th pick. He knows he won’t be stealing any rooms any time soon.

“You listen. You read the room. Listen to the leaders. Listen to the people who have been driving this boat,” Newton says. “Get around the Burrows. Get around the Chases. Get around the Mike Hiltons. The Cam Taylor-Britts. The DJ Turners.”

Newton knows all about Hilton, the Bengals’ savvy eight-year slot cornerback. Not only do they share similar traits with versatility and a supersonic football intellect, but Newton had been studying Hilton a couple of weeks before the draft “just because I love studying football.”

Naturally, Hilton, as well as defensive end Sam Hubbard, was the first teammate to reach out when the call came in the fifth round of the draft.

Newton doesn’t want to single out one play he’s seen in his Hilton study. Every play, he says, is important. But, yeah, he glimpsed the red zone blitz from the slot in the 2021 AFC Divisional in Tennessee.

“Playoff game, right?” Newton says. “In Tennessee? Yeah. White jerseys. He blitzed from the field side, tipped it, and picked it.”

The word is the 5-11, 190-pound Newton can line up anywhere inside and out. He’s got 59 games of college experience and has seen it all. From the clouds in the Sun Belt to the biggest of the Big 12.

That’s what he was trying to tell his teammates in that now famous speech that was such a big part of ESPN’s all-access 2023 series on TCU.

“I guess it was just coincidence that I had the floor last to speak,” says Newton, who admits he wasn’t surprised it went viral. “Not with all the cameras nowadays. But the way people were actually feeling it and reacting to it (did surprise him.) But I was just being me.”