Joe Burrow opens up about the toll of his injury issues

Dealing with serious injury issues isn't fun. As someone recovering from a torn Achilles tendon while writing this, that's something I can confirm. Unfortunately, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has a whole lot of experience when it comes to battling injuries.

Cincinnati's star quarterback has dealt with a plethora of issues over the course of his career thus far, including the season-ending wrist injury that he suffered last season. At the start of the Bengals mandatory minicamp, Burrow opened up about his injury history and the toll that it has taken on him both physically and mentally.

"You always forget how hard it is coming back from injury -- that's every time it happens," Burrow said. "There's always peaks where you're like, 'I'm feeling great,' and then a couple of months later you have a couple of days where it's like, 'Man, I'm not feeling that great.' In the past I pushed through that and caused problems for myself, and this year I'm not doing that."

Burrow is still just 27 years old, but his extensive injury history has caused him to ponder his own mortality when it comes to the game he excels at.

"Whenever the injuries start to stack up, your football mortality kind of comes into the back of your mind," Burrow said following Tuesday's mandatory minicamp. "So that's definitely something I've thought about and something I have had to fight through."

Adversity is nothing new for Burrow, though, and he's eager for the upcoming campaign to make a statement.

"I'm built for it," Burrow said. "Our team is built for it, and people that I have surrounded myself with have been through it with me as well. . . I'm excited about the season. I'm excited about what we are going to do. I'm excited about what we have in the locker room."