Joe Burrow's unique press tour sparks a former Bengals quarterback to throw shade at Cincinnati's ownership
The NFL world is taking notice of Joe Burrow's plight.While most franchise quarterbacks spend the beginning of the offseason relaxing or training, the face of the Cincinnati Bengals spent most of last week publicly advocating, perhaps even lobbying, his own team to spend money on his premier teammates. What other star QBs do you see […]
The NFL world is taking notice of Joe Burrow's plight.
While most franchise quarterbacks spend the beginning of the offseason relaxing or training, the face of the Cincinnati Bengals spent most of last week publicly advocating, perhaps even lobbying, his own team to spend money on his premier teammates.
What other star QBs do you see referencing the rise in the salary cap and the process of contract restructures? Only in Cincinnati would you find these discussions being had.
It's something J.T. O'Sullivan may know a thing or two about.
O'Sullivan is now renowned for his YouTube channel The QB School, all 365,000 subscribers and all, but he cut his teeth in the NFL from 2002-2010. The ninth team he at least practiced with as a backup QB was the 2009 Bengals, the second-to-last year of Carson Palmer's time in Cincinnati.
He was only around for about a year-and-a-half, but O'Sullivan did get to experience playing for the Bengals and their ownership. It appears he still has thoughts on the group that runs the club to this day.
O'Sullivan's QB School account on X (formerly known as Twitter) chimed in as a response to The 33rd Team's Sam Monson posting about Burrow's recent comments about the salary cap.
"It's almost like ownership matters."
Was this a direct shot at Mike Brown and his family? Or rather a general diss towards clubs with questionable ownership fumbling quarterbacks? Perhaps it was both. Either way, O'Sullivan's former bosses were in the line of sight.
The Bengals released O'Sullivan right before the 2010 season, which would be the last Palmer would play for the Bengals. Palmer infamously threatened to retire in 2011 due to his strife with the Brown family regarding their way of business. The former Heisman Trophy winner and first-overall pick kept his discontent behind closed doors up until he forced his way off the team after eight seasons.
Burrow is taking a more public, and diplomatic, route to getting what he wants. Making it known he's aware of the financial capabilities Cincinnati and every club has to pay its players fair value is his way of applying pressure the way Palmer never could 15 years ago.
It shouldn't have to be this way, as O'Sullivan would likely agree, but it's what Burrow has to deal with.
