Bengals: Joe Burrow goes remarkably high in ESPN’s NFL re-draft
The Cincinnati Bengals saw their new franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow, go remarkably high in ESPN’s four-round NFL re-draft.
Rumblings after the 2020 NFL draft concluded indicated that the Cincinnati Bengals were highly unlikely to move out of the first pick, regardless of the trade offers they received because they believed so much in Joe Burrow. If ESPN’s NFL re-draft is any indicator, they were right to put so much faith into the cigar-smoking signal-caller.
The premise of the re-draft was fairly simple. Every player in the entire NFL was available and the salary cap was no factor. Using the order from this year’s draft, each writer for every respective franchise made their pick in a snaking format. The exercise lasted four rounds.
Just how high did Joe Burrow go?
The Bengals’ new man under center was off the board at pick 13, held by the Indianapolis Colts. Of note, he was selected before Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Matthew Stafford, and Jimmy Garoppolo.
In fact, there were only eight other quarterbacks taken before him. Considering Burrow has yet to take a single snap in the league, that’s pretty high praise. Fans have also got to love that he went before recent number one overall picks, Murray and Mayfield. A 2-14 season rarely has any positives, but the timing of the Bengals’ disappointing season couldn’t have been much better.
The rest of the Bengals bunch
Surprisingly, the Bengals only had one other player taken in this re-draft and that honor belongs to A.J. Green. He was selected number 72 overall.
One would have to think that players such as Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, Joe Mixon, and Tyler Boyd narrowly missed the cut to further represent the orange and black. If anything, it serves as further motivation to prove just how under-rated they are in the upcoming campaign.
The Bengals representative in this draft, Ben Baby, came away with quite the haul of players. With the first overall pick, he wisely went with Patrick Mahomes, a clear choice. After that, defensive end Josh Allen was the selection, a young player with the potential to turn into a top-tier pass rusher. From there, securing Burrow help was the objective. He took Laremy Tunsil to protect his blindside and Tyler Lockett to give him a reliable weapon to throw to.
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Overall, this gave quite a bit of insight into how outsiders view the Bengals. Burrow is just as highly regarded around the league as he is in the Queen City, while some of Cincinnati’s better players are still overlooked. Either way, it has to be comforting for fans to know that the new face of their franchise is considered to be one of the most valuable players in the league.