An NFL GM had the most ridiculous and embarrassing Joe Burrow take we've heard this year
There have been plenty of bad takes about Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow this year — especially after his slow start to the season (due to the calf injury) — but a take from an anonymous NFL GM this week is easily the worst we've heard in 2023. On Friday, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller […]
There have been plenty of bad takes about Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow this year — especially after his slow start to the season (due to the calf injury) — but a take from an anonymous NFL GM this week is easily the worst we've heard in 2023.
On Friday, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller dropped an article about USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the expected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, that includes several comments from anonymous NFL front office members.
One of the GMs that Miller spoke with told him that Williams would've been the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft over Burrow. That GM then suggested that Burrow is just a "distributor" while Williams is a "game-changer".
From ESPN: Williams would have been drafted first overall in both 2020 [over Burrow] and 2021 [Lawrence]," another NFL general manager said. "That's no knock on either player — and they're both really good in the league — but Williams is a difference-maker. Joe and Trevor are distributors. Great ones. Caleb is a game-changer."
It's starting to make sense, after reading a comment like this, why so many NFL GMs make terrible quarterback decisions (like giving Daniel Jones a lucrative extension or trading a talented wide receiver and multiple first round picks for a quarterback, Bryce Young, that's smaller than some middle schoolers).
Williams is an incredible talent. And he may end up having a Hall of Fame career that is better than Burrow's career. You never know how a quarterback's career will play out. But that's true of almost any quarterback that's a first-round draft pick. All of the quarterbacks drafted early have that potential. Making these grand statements, though, about a quarterback that's never taken an NFL snap is completely absurd.
The thing about Burrow that folks (including NFL GMs apparently) don't understand is that it's not his physical abilities that set him apart. It's his instincts, his awareness, his intelligence, his competitiveness, and his natural ability to be an elite leader (something that can't be taught).
Burrow came into the league in 2020 and joined a franchise that hadn't won a playoff game in 30 years. The Bengals were 2-14 the year before Burrow's arrival.
Two years later and the Bengals were playing in the Super Bowl. The next year, they went to the AFC Championship game after winning their second straight AFC North division title.
Burrow didn't land in a great situation. But he still turned things around almost immediately (despite a setback as a rookie when he tore his ACL, and a setback the next offseason when he had his appendix removed). That happened because of Burrow's rare ability to lead and inspire belief among his teammates by just being himself. He doesn't have to force it because it comes naturally to the former LSU star. Burrow is that guy. He's him.
Williams could be that. But he isn't yet. And to suggest he will be just because he's had some success in the Pac-12 isn't just silly, it's borderline irresponsible as an NFL GM.
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