Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has returned to full health with a slick new haircut and even another skill, tickling ivory, as part of his rehabilitation from the wrist surgery that ended his 2023 season.
NFL evaluators and coaches also are tickled by Burrow. As part of Mike Sando’s excellent annual quarterback tiers posted by the Athletic Monday morning, Burrow ranked second among 30 starting quarterbacks, behind Chiefs starter Patrick Mahomes.
League insiders are not as impressed with Burrow, judging from initial reactions. Most point to the fact that injuries have truncated Burrow’s efforts to lead the Bengals to the playoffs in two of his four seasons since entering the NFL as the first overall selection in the 2020 draft.
No one can question that a healthy Burrow can produce high-level finishes, however. He nearly led the Bengals to a Super Bowl LVI victory in his second season, 2021. Should Burrow avoid injury in his fifth season, Sando expects more to get on the quarterback’s bandwagon.
Looking at other quarterbacks, Sando himself pointed out that he hasn’t seen early eyebrows raised by where the survey placed Dolphins starter Tua Tagovailoa (and his $53.1 million average-per-year contact), at the top of the lowest section, Tier 3. Also, league personnel leaders expect the Jim Harbaugh culture in Los Angeles to elevate Justin Herbert’s play, and another surveyed asked whether Sando could add a Tier 0, above Tier 1, to house Mahomes.
Each year, Sando surveys 50 NFL executives, scouts and coaches to produce his multi-tiered rankings.