Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, has agreed in principle to a $ 36.1M contract with the Bengals pending a physical later this week, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The rookie quarterback is receiving 100% of his $ 23.88 million signing bonus from the Bengals within 15 days of executing his contract.
Burrow is the 15th quarterback since 2000 to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick, joining players such as Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Andrew Luck, and Michael Vick, among others. But unlike the No. 1 elections that took place, Burrow did not enjoy the luxury of a rookie minicamp. Instead, the new Bengals starting quarterback has spent the past few months in virtual meetings with his coaching staff, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced teams to communicate remotely during the offseason.
Instead of getting physical reps with his teammates and coaches, Burrow’s off-season virtual weekly routine has included four two-hour Zoom meetings with his coaching staff. And while the situation is far from ideal, the Bengals are satisfied with what they have seen of Burrow during this unusual offseason.
“I saw everything I expected to have seen in this weird format,” quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher recently said of Burrow, through Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “There is this great emptiness of taking him to the field and doing it, but we have evidence that he did it at the highest level that a university quarterback did six months ago. It is university football and jumping, but it has been what I was hoping and you have nicely verified what I thought you were going to see. “
Burrow, along with Pitcher-Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, used these Zoom meetings to brush up on the complexities of the Bengals offense. While they were unable to perform any physical replay, Zoom’s meetings gave the Bengals coaching staff more time to discuss the nuances of the offensive system with Burrow. They also reviewed some of their LSU game movies while discussing which parts of the Tigers’ offense could be implemented in the Cincinnati offensive in 2020.
“We watched (the LSU movie) with him and he was able to share his thoughts on what he really liked and wanted to keep doing,” Pitcher said. “He and Brian would talk about it and say, ‘We can incorporate them very easily because we already do something similar. They may be new but they are worth it. This couple may be in the background.'” It was a natural process that takes place. “
Just before the draft, Burrow left previous reports in bed that he didn’t want to play for the Bengals, who have not had a winning season since 2015 and are looking for their first playoff victory since 1990. Based on recent praise from El Bengals’ coaching staff, Burrow is doing everything in his power to increase his and his new team’s chances of succeeding sooner rather than later.
“I’ve won everywhere I’ve been,” Burrow said during a pre-draft appearance on “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” “I’ve never had a losing season in sports since the time I was five years old. I’m not a loser. I just want to go somewhere where I can win.”
As he enters the NFL during unusual times, the Bengals are confident Burrow will continue to grow in his understanding of the game plan.
“He is the son of a coach, so he has been spinning football since he was a young child,” Callahan said of Burrow, whose father, Jim Burrow, recently completed a 37-year coaching career that included 14 years in Ohio University. “He has that feeling. A lot of these things are not new to him.”
