LSU’s Joe Burrow wisely avoids committing to the Cincinnati Bengals
“With the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft ... ” is a dream of a phrase for anyone who plays football.
“The Cincinnati Bengals select ... ” is a nightmare for anyone who has ever played for that organization.
Joe Burrow, please get out now. Immediately. Tell your agent to tell the Bengals “not no, but hell no.”
The winner of the 2019 Davey O’Brien Award was here Monday to accept his trophy, thus concluding one of the all-time great one-year wonder seasons in the history of college football.
He’s a charming young man, and the organization that selects him appears to be in good shape.
For his sake, as someone who was born in Cincy and for the first 15 years of his life was an idiotically committed fan of the Bengals, I hope he pulls a John Elway/Eli Manning and gets away from that awful franchise.
For all of you Joe Burrow fans who share the same hope, there is hope.
On Monday morning at the Fort Worth Club, I asked Burrow if the Bengals select him with the first overall pick if he’s OK with going to that organization.
“Look, this is a long process, right?” he said. “They have their process that they have to go through, and so I am blessed to be in the position I’m in. If they select me, they select me, I’m going to do everything in my power to be the best football player I can be.”
I told him that answer can be translated either way — that what I heard is that he didn’t say yes. I asked him if that’s wrong.
“It’s a long process in the next couple of months,” said Burrow, who added that he plans to attend the NFL Combine later this month but is unsure as to specifically what he will do there.
“We have the Combine. We have pro days,” he said. “There is a long time ‘til the draft. There is a lot of information in a lot of different places. A lot of people saying a lot of things. I’m just focused on training right now.”
Take that however you want, but if a guy is going to be selected first overall, and he is OK with going to the team with that pick, he says, “I can’t wait to play for whatever team that drafts me.”
Burrow is no dope. He is being instructed and advised by smart people who have done this before. The answer is his answer.
Because this process is this process, draftees have virtually no leverage. With few exceptions, they’re stuck.
If he doesn’t want Cincy, he needs to be unafraid to look bad for a little while and do whatever he can.
Famously, in 1983 Stanford quarterback John Elway made it clear that if the Baltimore Colts selected him with the first pick in the NFL Draft that he would not play for their organization.
It was more of a bluff. Elway didn’t want want to play for then Colts’ owner Robert Irsay, who was presiding over the worst stretch in the history of that franchise. John’s father, Jack, was also not a fan of then Colts coach, Frank Kush.
Elway, who was also a top MLB prospect, said he would pursue a career in pro baseball if selected by the Colts. Irsay then proceeded with one of the dumbest trades ever, and essentially dealt Elway to Denver in exchange for a backup quarterback, and two offensive linemen, one of whom was quite good.
Burrow doesn’t have baseball as a threat.
What he could do is pull an Eli.
In 2004, the San Diego Chargers had the No. 1 overall pick and Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning was in the conversation to be the that guy. Eli’s father, Archie, made it known that his son would not play for the Chargers.
The Chargers selected Eli first, and then traded him a few minutes later to the New York Giants.
It was initially a bad look for a family that, when it comes to football, never looks bad. That, too, didn’t last.
Much like John Elway and Eli Manning, Joe Burrow has grown up in and around football. Both he and his entire family realize if you are going to have a successful career, play for the teams that make winning the priority.
Starting with Joe’s first three years at Ohio State, which began in his redshirt season in Columbus in 2015, and ending with LSU in 2019, he was a part of a team that lost a combined eight games.
The Cincinnati Bengals lost 14 games this past season.
Their priority is to maintain a low operating budget. If they happen to win, great. If they don’t win, the cash rolls in.
By all accounts Bengals owner Mike Brown is a wonderful man who is polite and charitable. And the record of that franchise since the death of his father, football pioneer Paul Brown, speaks for itself. They haven’t won a playoff game since he died in 1991.
It’s not as if Joe has to go far to solicit advice about playing for the Bengals.
Joe said he is currently training for the NFL Combine with Jordan Palmer in California. Jordan’s brother is ex NFL quarterback Carson Palmer, who was the top pick of the Bengals in 2004.
Carson had several good years with the Bengals, but after the 2010 season he was so tired of the Cincy culture he threatened to retire rather than play for them again. They traded him to the Raiders.
Joe Burrow looks to be a good quarterback with a solid NFL future. He’s also not God.
For the sake of Joe Burrow, here is to hoping he doesn’t play for the Cincinnati Bengals.
They don’t deserve him.
