Chris Roling, Bengals WireFri, November 21, 2025 at 9:08 PM UTC·1 min readThe Cincinnati Bengals, as expected, won’t make a decision just yet on activating quarterback Joe Burrow for the Week 12 game against the New England Patriots.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed the lack of a Burrow move on Friday, setting the stage for a Saturday afternoon deadline.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We are still talking to doctors and everything. He's done everything he can. Everything is moving in a great position. Now we just have to make a decision," Taylor said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.
Like every week, the Bengals have until 4 p.m. ET on Saturday to make gameday roster moves. During a typical week, that’s merely announcing practice squad elevations or alterations to the final injury report issued on Friday.
Keep in mind, the Bengals could "activate" Burrow to the roster and still not start him on Sunday, too.
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AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Bengals were never going to officially announce anything on Friday, no matter what ends up happening with Burrow. There’s a gamesmanship to waiting until the last second, if not a minor competitive advantage in not letting the Patriots know which quarterback will actually get the start on Sunday.
For what it’s worth, Burrow split some redzone reps in practice with backup Joe Flacco, but reading too much into the day of work is perhaps what the Bengals hope the Patriots do, and otherwise not worth it.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Deadline set on Joe Burrow return decision for Week 12
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