Joe Burrow became the center of conversation a week ago when he made several cryptic comments about how his mindset has shifted as of late.

The star Bengals quarterback has found himself in a tough situation over his career. After making the Super Bowl in his second NFL season and the AFC championship game the following year, the Bengals have failed to make the playoffs in three straight years while Burrow has been plagued by multiple injuries.

“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. I have been through a lot. If it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for?” Burrow said last week.

Burrow acknowledged there has been a lot going on his life. He also said a week ago, “I think I’ve been through more than most. Certainly not easy on the brain or the body, so just trying to have fun doing it again.”

These comments resulted in all sorts of chatter, including the possibility that Burrow could be traded one day or even retire young amid all the injuries he’s gone through, a lá Andrew Luck.

On Wednesday, Burrow at least cleared up that he is not planning on retiring any time soon. When asked if he’s ever thought about not playing, he replied, “You think about it, but you think about a lot of different things in your life just like everybody does. You think about all the different possibilities that can happen. I’m gonna be playing for a long time. I expect to play for a long time. I expect to play well and [be] consistently great for a long time.”

Burrow also said that he “can’t see” himself not being the Bengals quarterback in 2026. As for if he’s thought about the possibility of not being in Cincinnati during his career, Burrow simply replied, "You think about a lot of things."

In fairness to Burrow, a number of great quarterbacks and players have ended their careers on a different team than they started, from Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The NFL is a business, and no player is immune from ending up elsewhere at some point.

For now though, Burrow remains focused on the Bengals. Burrow recently expressed that he feels the Bengals aren’t far off, citing that the team has smart coaches and young players that are getting better, but acknowledged that there has to be some change after continuing to miss the playoffs. At the very least, hopefully Burrow’s comments will place pressure on the Bengals organization to be more active than they typically are so they can maximize his prime.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joe Burrow Gets Cryptic While Discussing Future With Bengals.

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