Perhaps the way the 2023 season ended for the Bengals caused some people to forget just how good Cincinnati's star players are, because quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase were both severely disrespected in a pair of recent rankings.
Burrow ranked behind Tagovailoa and Love?
First, let's look at Burrow, who was ranked No. 39 on the NFL's Top 100 players list behind other quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love.
2024's #NFLTop100 List - 40 through 31
— NFL Nerd (@NerdingonNFL) July 29, 2024
40) Davante Adams
39) Joe Burrow
38) Sauce Gardner
37) Quinnen Williams
36) Tua Tagovailoa
35) Josh Hines-Allen
34) Jordan Love
33) Puka Nacua
32) Quincy Williams
31) Daron Bland
Now that's just disrespectful. It's fair to have concerns about Burrow's ability to avoid injuries, but when healthy he's arguably the second-best quarterback in the entire NFL behind Patrick Mahomes and a proven playoff performer who has already led Cincinnati to a Super Bowl and two AFC championship games.
Tagovailoa, on the other hand, has a 0-1 career playoff record, while Jordan Love has won one game in the postseason (though he did look very impressive as a full-time starter for the first time in 2023). The fact is that neither of those guys are better than Burrow, even considering the fact that he suffered a season-ending wrist injury last season.
Burrow will clearly have his fair share of doubters and skeptics to prove wrong in 2024.
Chase outside of the top 5 in Madden 25
Then, there's Burrow's top target -- Ja'marr Chase, who is ranked as the seventh-best receiver in the league in Madden 25, behind Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Davante Adams.
The Top 10 wide receivers in Madden 25 via @EAMaddenNFL. pic.twitter.com/kurILMkzkt
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 29, 2024
This is a little less egregious as all of the receivers listed ahead of Chase are very, very good, but Chase is excellent in his own right, and one can't help but think he'd probably be higher on this list if the 2023 season ended better for the Bengals. After all, Chase went over 1,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons in the league.
Rankings are debatable and typically not worth getting worked up over, but it certainly seems like Cincinnati's star duo was disrespected in these recent rankings. Hopefully, they use it as added motivation heading into the 2024 season.