Colin Cowherd continues to voice his doubts about the Cincinnati Bengals and their new franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow.
On the heels of a projection from Pro Football Focus that Joe Burrow would have more passing yards and touchdowns than Baker Mayfield in the upcoming season, Colin Cowherd has renewed his criticism of the Cincinnati Bengals. This isn’t anything new, as the host of “The Herd” has made plenty of negative comments about the franchise that calls Paul Brown Stadium home, especially this offseason.
He’s made a number of statements ranging from a claim that Bengals’ man under center will get “mauled” in his rookie campaign, to proclamations that Tua Tagovailoa should have been drafted ahead of Burrow. It’s clear he isn’t a fan of what the front office is brewing in the Queen City.
In fact, he’s got the Bengals winning just four games in the 2020 season, with Burrow throwing for 3,300 yards on 61% completion and just 19 touchdown passes. A number one overall pick hasn’t had such a poor showing since Sam Bradford, who threw for 3,512 yards and 18 touchdowns on 60% completion with a receiving cast of unknowns.
Such a prediction seems unfair, especially considering the outcomes of recent seasons from number one overall selections.
Kyler Murray threw for over 3,700 yards at a clip of 64.4% with his number one receiving option being a 36-year-old Larry Fitzgerald. Mayfield himself racked up 3,725 yards and 27 touchdowns at a completion rate just shy of 64% on his way to dragging the lowly Browns to six wins without a true outside receiving threat, only Jarvis Landry.
Neither of those guys pieced together the greatest single-season for a college football quarterback like Burrow and they certainly didn’t have the kind of supporting cast the LSU product will possess to begin his NFL foray.
The criticism doesn’t stop there. Cowherd boldly claims that outside of the safety position, the Browns are more talented in every aspect. Cincy’s defensive line that houses Carlos Dunlap, D.J. Reader, Sam Hubbard, Carl Lawson, and future Hall-of-Famer Geno Atkins would likely have something to say about that.
That’s before getting to the wide receivers or the corners (with a healthy William Jackson III and two key free-agent additions) who will at the very least give the Brown’s matching units a run for their money, if not establish an edge.
Cowherd even projects nine wins for the Bengals’ upstate rivals, a team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2007. In his own words, the hype train for Burrow may be “off the rails”, but predictions like his own for Cleveland should be considered just as outlandish until they keep a coaching staff around for more than a season or two.
For every positive outlook on the Bengals and their rookie quarterback, a negative one surfaces as well. Only time will tell if Zac Taylor and company can silence the critics and prove the optimists right. With the season currently slated to begin in 88 days, football fans should get an answer soon enough.