Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow spoke to the media for the first time since undergoing season-ending wrist surgery in November.

Monday was the final day the Bengals’ 2023 roster will be together. Several key players are scheduled to be free agents and change will take place as it does each year.

For the second time in his young career, Burrow’s offseason will be spent mostly rehabbing as he works his way back onto the field. This is arguably the most important offseason of Burrow’s career from a health standpoint.

The Bengals and Burrow linked themselves together through the 2029 season when both sides agreed on a five-year extension worth $275 million in September. Cincinnati’s front office paid him hoping he’ll keep the franchise in contention for years to come.

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For him to do that, he needs to be on the field. Two of his four seasons in the NFL have ended with him undergoing a significant surgical procedure. He’s also missed the majority of training camp each year in the last two seasons due to health reasons. In 2022, Burrow underwent an emergency appendectomy that forced him to miss all but the final week of the preseason.

A year later? Burrow strained his calf on the second day of practice and missed the entire training camp. He then re-aggravated his calf in Week 2 and by the time he was starting to get into a rhythm, he tore the scapholunate ligament in his throwing hand and his season was over.

“It was a weird year,” Burrow said on Monday. “Never really felt like we really reached our potential to what we were. Obviously, an injury happened right where we usually start to take that jump in the year where we have in years past. It was a tough year.”

Burrow has a voice within the organization and the team welcomes it. Before he embarks on another offseason, he addressed many important topics that will be discussed often over the next few months and here are the biggest takeaways.

Is he planning to be able to throw in the offseason workout program? Burrow was hesitant to give details and a timeline of when he's expecting to be able to grip a football again. There's still a lot that must take place before he's able to throw again. He's hopeful that he'll be able to participate in organized team activities (OTAs) in May.

"I have to see. I think ... I should be good by OTAs," he said. "But we'll see pretty early on to, really, tell you."

Sources indicate the timeline for return from the injury is four to six months. This ligament is in the middle of the wrist between the scaphoid and lunate bones. It’s an important wrist-stabilizing ligament.

What did Joe Burrow say about wide receiver Tee Higgins and if he expects him to return next season?

“I know Tee wants to be here,” Burrow said. “Tee knows we want him here. There’s not much to say in that aspect. Everybody’s expectation is Tee is going to be back. We’ll see. The offseason plays out in crazy ways you don’t expect. I’d love to have Tee back and I know he wants to be back.”

Higgins’ contract has now expired with the Bengals. Both sides could not reach an agreement on an extension before the season.

A source close to the situation told The Enquirer that Higgins was not “believed” to be in the team’s plans for the future.

The three options for the Bengals with Higgins are the following: Place the franchise tag on him and keep him around for one more season at $20-plus million, tag him and then trade him to get draft picks or let him walk to free agency.

The Bengals have from Feb. 20 to March 5 to place the franchise tag on Higgins if they opt to go that route. If they don’t, it’s a sign they plan to let him become a free agent.

Does the offense need to change to help Joe Burrow take fewer hits?

“I think we can be more explosive in the run game,” Burrow said. “I think we’ve been efficient. The run game has been able to keep us on schedule. It would be nice to hit a couple big runs. We did later in the season. That was nice to see. Guys like Joe Mixon taking advantage of his opportunities and Chase stepping up and making some big plays. I feel good about that aspect. I think this offseason we’ll be able to take a step.”

This is the second year in a row that the Bengals have said they need to be more explosive in the run game. Cincinnati finished the season ranked No. 31 in rushing offense this season.Burrow was sacked 24 times in 10 games this year.

Is Joe Burrow planning to change anything in his offseason workout program to try and ensure he can get through a full training camp?

“Early on it’s not going to change,” Burrow said. “The weeks leading up to training camp maybe will. That will be something I decide as we get closer depending on how maybe my body is feeling. But we will take that a step at a time.”

The Bengals can’t afford another Burrow-less training camp that turns into another 0-2 start to the season. In the AFC North, the margin for error is too thin. Three out of four teams in the division made the playoffs this season.

Cincinnati must avoid another slow start, especially in the division. Going 1-5 in the AFC North isn’t going to cut it next season.

Burrow needs a full training camp to get himself ready to go for Week 1, that’s why his health remains the No. 1 priority for the franchise. The 27-year-old hinted that his plan might change in the summer before training camp.

“Maybe a couple weeks before just laying off the gas a little bit,” he said. “I don’t know. We’ll see. Depends on how the body is feeling.”

Why was the 2023 not up to the Bengals’ standard?  

As Burrow mentioned, things just never really started to click for the Bengals this year. They were wildly inconsistent on both sides of the ball.

Change will occur at some positions on offense and defense, and according to Burrow, the team knows what it needs to get fixed to win more games next season.“Every year, injuries happen,” he said. “But there were a lot of things that went into this year that were not up to our standards. We gotta get those things fixed and we’ll go from there. Obviously, we’ll find out more once the roster is settled. You get into OTAs, free agency ends, combine is over, draft is over. Then you can really sit down and focus on the guys we have.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bengals QB Joe Burrow final press conference 2023 NFL season