Joe Burrow didn’t see the field much at Ohio State. In fact, he broke his hand, fell behind Dwayne Haskins on the depth chart, and Haskins became a first-round pick. So Burrow went to LSU, where he was solid in 2018. He threw for 16 touchdowns, ran for seven more and threw just five interceptions. It was a good season.
And then this year happened.
Burrow was historically good. Record-setting good. Sixty touchdown passes good.
But just how good will Burrow be in the NFL, especially if he goes to the Cincinnati Bengals, who are coming off a 2-14 season?
“I’ve seen a lot of really good stuff – a lot of stuff that you believe can translate,” Super Bowl champion and NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner said on Tiki & Tierney. “I think like anybody, though, the transition from last year to this year and how dramatic it was, it makes you kind of wonder what was going on. Did he just hit the perfect storm this year with talent and system and everything and this is going to be who he is moving forward? Is this an anomaly because everything just kind of came together and he was extremely confident and it won’t necessarily translate like that at the next level? I don’t really know.”
Burrow won a Heisman Trophy and national championship this season. He was otherworldly in the College Football Playoff, combining for 14 touchdowns (12 passing, two rushing) in wins over Clemson and Oklahoma.
Everything went right.
“Everything played out exactly how you would want it to play out if you were putting it all into one season,” Warner said. “But I think it unfortunately leaves questions, like, ‘OK, why did we not see any of this before? Where was all of this?’ Again, a lot of times it can be system; it can be different things that come together and you can just catapult from there, but I think that’s going to be the one question people have is where was this the entirety of your college career until this year? But there’s a lot of good stuff on tape, a lot of great throws that he’s made, athleticism. He looks like the whole package, so I’m excited to see what he can be at the next level.”