Joe Burrow isn’t making the Cincinnati Bengals feel like he is going to be the next Jamarcus Russell anytime soon.
Although this NFL offseason hasn’t been exactly normal, the Bengals front office has been more than pleased with what they have seen from the 2020 #1 overall draft pick.
Bengals head coach said the following about Joe Burrow during an interview with Sports Illustrated.
“He’s been great. As advertised is the best way to put it. You can tell he spends a lot of time on his own being prepared with questions and he’s doing a great job taking ownership, which is important for a quarterback to do, and he’s doing everything he can to own this offense. Been really impressed with him, but not surprised.
We made the quarterbacks stand up, so Joe’s probably in his parents’ basement, standing up, yelling, while his mom’s upstairs making lunch. It was good. They took ownership of it. And I told them, we’re not trying to act like we’re in church here, we need to replicate these reps we’re missing on the field, so speak up and be loud and let everybody hear you. And our guys did a good job of that.”
Bengals coaches and fans have to be happy to see leadership qualities early on. They have an opportunity for Burrow the shift the entire organization in ways that former starting quarterback Andy Dalton couldn’t.
How far can Joe Burrow go his rookie year?
If the hype around Burrow is real, expect an Andrew Luck type turn around that happened with the Indianapolis Colts.
In 2012, the Indianapolis Colts went 11-5 after selecting Andrew Luck with the #1 overall pick. The Colts finished 2-14 the year prior which happened to be the same record the Bengals finished with during the 2019 season.
Can Burrow have that same type of success early in his career as Andrew Luck? He is off to a good start. We will have to wait and see how it translates to the NFL field.
