Major outlet identifies Joe Burrow's kryptonite as Bengals head into 2025 season

The biggest threat to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is what you might expect it to be. Heading into the 2025 regular season, Pro Football Focus identified the kryptonite for every NFL quarterback.

With all the attention on Trey Hendrickson’s and Shemar Stewart’s contract situations, one of the most underrated storylines of the offseason was whether the Bengals did enough to keep defenders from tugging at Burrow’s cape.

Although the offensive line woes have been a common narrative coming out of Cincinnati, the data suggests that Burrow can do more to help himself in high-leverage situations.

PFF reveals flaw in Joe Burrow's game that has plenty of room for improvement

When discussing the Queen City’s Superman, PFF's John Kosko noted that Burrow’s biggest foible is taking too many sacks. 

"Burrow finally enjoyed a fully healthy season, and it resulted in a career-high 94.1 PFF overall grade. While his true kryptonite might be his own defense, he does need to address his propensity to take sacks, and bad ones at that. Burrow produced -0.820 EPA per play on sacks in 2024, the worst mark in the NFL. It was especially bad on third downs, where he led the NFL with 26 sacks and generated a league-worst -1.036 EPA per play."

There is still reason for concern about Burrow taking too many sacks. And as PFF’s stats indicate, it's not only a question of how many sacks Burrow takes, but also when they occur, as giving up sacks on third downs is the equivalent of a turnover.

Leading the league in sacks on third down is due to a combination of factors, not only the poor play of the offensive line. Some of those factors include, but are not limited to, Burrow holding onto the ball too long, negative plays on first and second down, which result in needing to hold onto the ball longer, and the opponent’s defensive schemes, which are sometimes better than Cincinnati's offensive play-calling.

We saw all of that come to fruition in a regrettable moment this preseason. On a third-and-12, against only a four-man rush by the Commanders, Burrow held the ball longer than he should have, scrambled, and ended up taking a sack for a 17-yard loss. This play was summed up succinctly by Monday Night Football announcer Joe Buck, exclaiming, “Go down, Joe, it's August!”

Nevertheless, there is also optimism that the team can curtail this kryptonite's effects this upcoming regular season.

Cincinnati, home to the Hall of Justice

In the DC Comics, Cincinnati's own Union Terminal serves as the basis for the Hall of Justice. This headquarters is where superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and other crusaders congregate when they have business to discuss.

And luckily, like in the new Superman movie, Cincinnati’s hero will not have to do everything alone. He has a cast of heroes to help him combat this particular kryptonite.

Those words from over two years ago still resonate today. An excellent cast of characters surrounds Burrow, including his complement of top three targets from last year in Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Mike Gesicki, who are back with shiny new contract extensions. Each of them can get open quickly, allowing the soon-to-be MVP QB to get rid of the ball fast.

Burrow’s 2.65 seconds to throw the ball was the fourth-fastest among NFL quarterbacks last year. His being fourth on this list only shows us there is room for improvement if need be.

Burrow’s most significant weapon against kryptonite is Chase. The best receiver in the league led the NFL in a plethora of categories last year, including yards after catch.

The recent addition of free agent Noah Fant adds another player Burrow can count on to take short and quick receptions and turn them into significant gains.

Alleviating pressure

The biggest question about taking too many sacks remains the offensive line’s ability to hold up pass protection. 

In Superman, the character known as Metamorpho turns himself into kryptonite to subdue the Man of Steel. To help his family, Metamorpho removes the material that will enable Superman to free himself. Spoiler Alert.

In Cincinnati, the newly configured offensive line should alleviate some pressure on Burrow, unlocking yet another level in the league’s best quarterback and allowing the much-maligned unit also to help itself and the offense as a whole.

This offseason, the team overhauled the interior of the offensive line. The front office drafted Dylan Fairchild out of the University of Georgia in the third round. Also, they signed Lucas Patrick in free agency. And thanks to head coach Zac Taylor's most recent press conference, we know that Patrick is the starting right guard. We can only hope this decision works out better than we anticipate.

Right tackle Amarius Mims is entering his second season as a starter. He has much room to grow into the first-round talent that the Bengals hoped he would become when selecting him 18th overall in last year's draft.

Overall, don't expect the offensive line to be a top-five unit in the NFL. However, they should be much improved from a year ago and better than one of the worst units that several experts have predicted them to be.

Putting an offense and city on his shoulders

Super Joe has plenty of help within the Queen City walls. Nevertheless, in a sign of leadership and heroism, Burrow attributes any of the team’s shortcomings to himself.

Despite being the best quarterback in the NFL last year, he says he will be better. When he states he needs to be better, holding on to the ball too long on third downs is one area where he can improve.

The team is attempting to help with this. In the last two seasons, they've replaced offensive linemen with the worst blown block rates with those who have the best coming out of college. That should help with not allowing immediate pressure in general, and on third downs in particular.

Furthermore, they've resigned the weapons with whom he has great chemistry, allowing him to continue knowing where his receivers will be and get rid of the ball expeditiously. Now it’s on him to save a city.

Yes, taking sacks has been an issue since Burrow entered the league in 2021. However, this year, there is optimism that there will be fewer sacks than in years past. That is part of the reason why Burrow sounds extremely confident heading into Week 1.

Gone are the days of Taylor relying on tight ends to pass block defensive ends one-on-one. Furthermore, Burrow is not resting on his laurels, as he continually seeks improvement. He knows he can get the ball out to his pass catchers even faster if he must. And, with another year together and significant changes along the offensive line, his supporting cast will be better. 

Eliminating the sack-taking kryptonite will go a long way to ensuring that Burrow and the Bengals will have a successful 2025 NFL season.

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