One of the many ways in which non-ball-knowing consumers of the NFL underestimate Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is in how well he can run. Burrow has legit wheels, but he's so lethal from the pocket, that he seldom needs to use them.
Here's the thing, though: As athletic as Burrow is, that attribute gets lost in the shuffle. Some of his peers like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are generational athletic freakazoids.
Unlike the reality with Allen and Jackson, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor ain't drawing up designed QB runs for Burrow but once in a blue moon. That's especially so in light of all of Joe Shiesty's injuries.
While Cincinnati backup Josh Johnson was a legit dual-threat guy once upon a time, he is now 40 years old. Fellow quadragenarian Joe Flacco did show off some running ability last season, but again, it's not his forte. There is fourth Bengals QB, though, who could sneak his way into a subpackage situation as a runner.
Sean Clifford's running ability should keep him in the running for Bengals' QB3 job
What a low-key savvy pickup Sean Clifford was for Cincinnati. He began his NFL career as a fifth-round pick out of Penn State with the Green Bay Packers. If there's a better organization for developing QBs and general stability in the position, pray tell.
Clifford was expected to go undrafted, yet the Packers saw something in him. The fact that he was waived during last year's roster cuts, to me, had more to do with the presences of Jordan Love and Malik Willis and a numbers game than a poor reflection on Clifford as a player.
While he leaves something to be desired in terms of passing precision — or so his 61.4% completion rate in college suggests — Clifford can make big plays with his legs. He ran a 4.62 40-yard dash with a 1.60-second 10-yard split at his pro day. For context, Ja'Marr Chase blazed a 4.38 40 with a 1.59 10y split. Clifford bested Chase's 3-cone drill time, too, at 6.84 versus Ja'Marr's seven seconds flat.
Sean Clifford is a QB prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 9.03 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 89 out of 911 QB from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/bfseMwrvMB pic.twitter.com/Ho9ok81znF
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 12, 2023
That athletic testing underscores Clifford's twitch, change of direction, and undeniable initial acceleration. For a Bengals rushing attack that could use another weapon aside from Chase Brown, and perhaps a wrinkle on short-yardage or goal-to-go situations, it'd behoove Taylor and the offensive coaching staff to at least explore the possibility of deploying Clifford as a rushing specialist.
To be clear, removing Joe Burrow form the field for any down isn't advisable. Nevertheless, if an already-lethal Bengals offense can add an exotic twist to the playbook with Clifford in a pseudo-Wildcat formation, why not give it a shot?
As easy as it'd be to release Journeyman Apotheosis Josh Johnson, Clifford is the type of player who doesn't necessarily have to be on the 53-man roster. He hasn't blown the doors off at the NFL level enough for another team to swoop in right away and poach him. At this point, he should want to stay in Cincinnati to learn from the likes of elite football IQ minds like Burrow, Flacco, and Johnson.
...And if Clifford gets some fun tread as a runner in the meantime for a prospective Super Bowl contender, all the better!
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