Why Joe Burrow is actually the most properly rated player in the NFL

Lots of nonsense narratives persist about the Cincinnati Bengals, but this notion that Joe Burrow is somehow overrated is as amusing as it is bemusing. Burrow overrated? Really? The man who only two seasons ago led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns? OK.

If only he wasn't playing behind human turnstile offensive lines for the vast majority of his career, maybe Burrow wouldn't be hurt so often. He might've even thrown the most iconic touchdown pass in NFL history if, you know, Quinton Spain wasn't blocking Aaron Donald one-on-one in Super Bowl LVI.

But I digress. FanSided.com has released a list of the nine most overrated NFL players as voted on by our staff, which I had a hand in. Burrow checks in at No. 7, with two (!) first-place votes.

Survey of NFL's most overrated players totally misses the mark on Burrow

Is Joe Burrow not the easiest player in the entire league to evaluate? He is, at worst, a top-five quarterback when he's on the field and healthy. He's just struggled to stay healthy due to fluke injuries.

It's pretty straightforward, no? How does getting hurt a lot make him overrated? How does that have any impact whatsoever on the merits of what he's accomplished on the field?

Here's the attempted explanation from The Landry Hat's site expert Jerry Trotta, one of the two who voted Burrow as the most overrated:

"At a position that demands year-over-year consistency more than any other in sports, Burrow hasn't delivered at the level of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or Lamar Jackson. Yet, he remains sharpied into the elite tier of NFL quarterbacks, and frequently ranked ahead of Jackson, who has a legitimate claim to three MVPs. Slaying Mahomes in January bought him immense credit, and rightfully so, but he hasn't played a single postseason snap in three years. That drought and his lack of availability can’t just be swept under the rug because he’s — checks notes — 1-1 vs. Mahomes in the playoffs. What are we doing?"

I'll tell you what we're doing, Jerry. We're not comparing Burrow to Patrick Mahomes. Nobody is in that dude's class in terms of accomplishments. The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in the Mahomes era.

A main against Burrow is that he hasn't played in the postseason in three years. Gee, maybe a freak torn ligament in his right wrist and a pass protection breakdown in Week 2 of last season that led to a catastrophic turf toe injury, which was in the fraction of a fraction of cases that required surgery.

Oh, and the Bengals' defense was a dumpster fire in both of those years. When Burrow had his legitimate claim to the 2024 MVP award, Cincinnati's D was the biological sieve to end all biological sieves.

Maybe non-Bengals fans haven't been exposed to certain stats. Apologies in advance for embedding tweets and disrupting your reading experience, but it's absolutely necessary in this case.

No further explanation required. Can anyone do some actual research before they try to come at Joe with these erroneous "overrated" labels?

Circling back to the anti-Burrow argument posited by this very company...

Speaking of Super Bowls, unlike Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, who are often cited as his superior peers, Burrow has actually played in a Super Bowl and came within three points of another versus Mahomes. With an offensive line that consisted of Jackson Carman, Cordell Volson, Max Scharping, and Hakeem Adeniji.

If you're asking, "Who are they?" my answer is, "Exactly."

Allen and Jackson are well-established choke artists in the playoffs who've had far superior rosters. Name one moment where Joe has truly choked. You can't. You can point to multiple instances where Allen and Jackson have. Again, that's why they've never played in a Super Bowl.

If you want to knock Burrow for his injuries and lack of availability, fine. But he's arguably the best QB on the planet when he's actually playing. To me, any "overrated" notion brought about by injury is offset by how elite he is.

It'd be one thing if all the medical setbacks made Burrow a worse QB. He's rallied back to be a two-time Comeback Player of the Year. How on Earth can someone who's won that award twice be overrated? Make it make sense!

That is the epitome of underrated status. By definition, Burrow wasn't expected to play as well as he did coming back from those injuries. In fact, in addition to being in contention for this first MVP in 2026, he'll probably win that comeback award for a third time.

Guess what y'all? Burrow actually has a good roster this season. He has an at least passable offensive line. And the defense should be much improved.

Forget decent pass protection. Whenever Burrow has managed to stay healthy and had a semi-OK defense, he's led the Bengals deep in the playoffs. Mark my words, he's about to do it again.

Disingenuous contrarians who contend Burrow is overrated will be eating a lot of crow at the dawn of the new year.

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