The Cincinnati Bengals look to have solved their long-standing quarterback issue when they selected Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. He has been as advertised and has quickly ascended near the upper echelon of the league.
In only his second season in the NFL, after his rookie season was cut short by a knee injury, Burrow has helped lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl. They snapped their eight-game playoff losing streak, winning for the first time in over three decades. The first road playoff win in Bengals history was also picked up along the way.
It has been a magical season for the Bengals, who look like a team that can have some sustained success. When you have a quarterback as talented as Burrow leading the way, anything is possible.
On the season, Burrow led the league with a completion percentage of 70.4. He threw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He added 118 yards and two more scores on the ground, as Burrow is going to receive some MVP recognition.
But, just how good was he? When you take a deeper dive into the statistics, according to PFF, Burrow was truly one of the best performers of the 2021 season. He had a PFF grade of 92.3, 13 touchdowns of 20+ yard throws and registered a 92.2 grade against zone coverage. All three led the NFL.
Those PFF numbers and his raw statistics are all extremely impressive. But, they are even better when you take into account how poor of an offensive line he played behind. Burrow was sacked an NFL high 51 times during the regular season for a loss of 370 yards.
The Bengals’ pass protection regularly broke down during the regular season and it hasn’t performed any better in the postseason. Burrow was sacked nine times by the Tennessee Titans, yet he was still able to lead his team to victory.
It is hard to imagine Burrow improving much more, but we have likely not seen his best yet. If Cincinnati can build an offensive line in front of him, we could see him reach another level in his production.
Given the skill position players around him in Joe Mixon, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and C.J. Uzomah, the sky is the limit for a Burrow-led offense.
