Perhaps lost in the wonder of the Cincinnati Bengals' masterful offseason was the fact that they reportedly almost traded for Las Vegas Raiders superstar Maxx Crosby before his would-be trade to the Ravens fell through. That led the Bengals to Dexter Lawrence, and Crosby staying put in Vegas.
But it really did almost work out to where Crosby joined forces with Joe Burrow to turn things around in Cincinnati. To me, the Bengals made the right call going for Lawrence over Crosby, and that has little to do with the dubious medical records Baltimore invoked to rescind the trade.
Anyway, time will tell if Lawrence over Crosby was the right call. In the meantime, Crosby must be wondering what could've been given the praise he's just showered Burrow with.
Maxx Crosby invokes Hall of Fame QB to describe Joe Burrow's playing style
In a new episode of his own The Rush podcast, Crosby praised the purity with which Burrow plays the quarterback position. While he does have the ability to escape and make plays on the move, Joe Shiesty can dice up any defense from the pocket as well as any of his contemporaries.
That led Crosby to name check New Orleans Saints legend Drew Brees as a viable comparison for Burrow as a passer:
"Every time you see Joe Burrow — he's young, too — but he plays like an OG. Like Drew Brees or any of those guys. If you want to sit in a Cover 3 or Cover 2, he's gonna f****** pick you apart the whole time."
Maxx Crosby Praises Joe Burrow! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ZFF0Kntxse
— The Rush Podcast (@TheRushWithMaxx) May 20, 2026
There are some parallels between Brees and Burrow that are more apparent upon further inspection. Both were overlooked in their own ways during college. Burrow couldn't get his shot at Ohio State and had to transfer to LSU. Brees' stellar career at Purdue couldn't overcome his shorter stature, dropping him to the second round of the draft.
Where Burrow really excels is improvising when the play breaks down. Brees was never really adept at that. What they do have most in common on the field is their ability to see everything post-snap, make quick decisions, and place the ball with pinpoint accuracy.
Brees holds the all-time record for completion percentage in a single season at 74.4% in 2018, his age 39 season, with 8.2 air yards per attempt. Not exactly dinking and dunking his way to that mark.
Meanwhile, among players with at least 1,500 pass attempts, Burrow has the highest completion rate (68.5%) in NFL history. He clears the qualifying threshold by almost twofold at 2,806.
The similarities don't end there. Much of Brees' years in the NFL were wasted on bad defenses. This has happened to Burrow, too, but now that Joe Brrr has, in his words, the best roster of his career, he's in prime position to mirror Brees' most epic achievement. That is, delivering a moribund, erstwhile irrelevant franchise its first Super Bowl.
So Crosby is more right than he knows in invoking Burrow, even if the QBs' physical builds and full skill sets are a little different.
As a football purist, I'm actually hoping Crosby and the Raiders turn things around. It'd be a shame to see someone with his level of greatness waste away on losing teams in perpetuity. The arrival of No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza could absolutely reverse Las Vegas' fortunes for the better.
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