Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has some extra motivation heading into the 2024 season. People are down on him and his team after an injury-riddled 2023 campaign led to them missing the postseason.
Prior to those injuries, the Bengals had advanced to the AFC Championship Game in two consecutive seasons. They faced off against the Kansas City Chiefs in both years, with each team winning once.
Joe Burrow is on a mission this season to prove that he and his team are still contenders in the conference. Some of the supporting cast around him will be different, as running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Tyler Boyd are no longer in Cincinnati.
But, there is still plenty of weaponry for the former No. 1 pick to work with. Some of his elite traits will also help compensate for the loss of two key players.
Over at ESPN, former NFL quarterback turned analyst Dan Orlovsky shared his quarterback rankings based on seven different traits. For two of the traits, Joe Burrow earned the No. 1 spot.
The first is ball placement. Orlovsky doesn’t believe there is a quarterback in the league who excels in this area as much as the LSU product. He noted that ball placement is different from accuracy. Accuracy is throwing to your guy, while ball placement is throwing to ensure only your receiver can make the play.
“Burrow is the best in the game here, but Tagovailoa is really close. I think Burrow stands out in true ball placement, while Tagovailoa might be the most accurate passer in the league. Both quarterbacks rank in the top five in completion percentage since their 2020 draft year — Burrow is third (67.8%), while Tua is fifth (67.4%),” Orlovsky said.
What helps with ball placement? Excellent mechanics. It should be no surprise given how closely they go hand-in-hand that Joe Burrow also took home the No. 1 spot in this category.
“That’s why Burrow leads the way — he is always ready to throw and can smoothly repeat the motion rep after rep. Stroud has that same ability, and Goff is equally consistent when his pocket is clean,” said Orlovsky.
Repetition is key when it comes to mechanics. No matter the situation, he is going to deliver the ball to his teammates over and over the same exact way.
Out of the seven categories, Joe Burrow is ranked in five of them. Along with the two that he led, he was No. 3 in decision-making with the football, No. 2 in pocket presence and No. 8 in rushing ability.
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