Nick Wright rips Bengals for "reckless" treatment of Joe Burrow's injury: "Cannot treat this guy like he's expendable"

Nick Wright blasted the Cincinnati Bengals for their treatment of Joe Burrow after the quarterback was ruled out for the season following a right wrist ligament tear. Much of the discussion has circulated on him wearing a compression sleeve on his right wrist before the match and still playing on.

There are suggestions that it was an old bruise that was aggravated. Cincinnati kept starting with him even when his calf was not fully healed, for example, and did not give him recovery time by benching him. Even though the franchise and the quarterback have denied it, and said it is a new injury, there is a sense in the league that the quarterback is being kept on the field until it becomes impossible for him.

Analyst Nick Wright gave voice to those concerns:

"I truly feel sick for Joe. I feel sick for Bengals fans. I know the Chiefs-Bengals rivalry, whatever it is, but this sucks. This sucks for football fans. And I have a major issue with how reckless and impulsive, the Bengals have treated the maybe best player in the history of their franchise."

Wright also contended that treating Joe Burrow as just another normal player is not possible. He pointed out that before their current quarterback, they had the longest playoff win drought in the NFL. Now, he has taken them to a Super Bowl and two AFC Championship appearances. That change in the franchise's outlook is clearly down to them having Joe Burrow.

Wright continued:

"You cannot treat this guy like he's expendable. They have all year and now he a guy who has been injured a lot is now injured again and your season's over. And that's on the team."

NFL's investigation supports Nick Wright's claims on Joe Burrow

The Cincinnati Bengals previously posted a video on social media that they later deleted showing Joe Burrow wearing a compression sleeve on his right hand. If he was injured and it was not reported, it is a violation of league policy. The NFL clearly feels that there is sufficient doubt to probe the case even though the quarterback has denied it.

Irrespective of that, the mere fact that the video was posted and then deleted will likely give credence to Nick Wright's claim that the franchise is treating their quarterback shoddily. One only needs to look at Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts to see what happens when a star player is not properly cared for.