Bengals receive stern warning from NFL insider to not let Joe Burrow's frustration grow any further
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is on track to play a full season and miss the playoffs for the first time in his career. If he did have a winning record attached to his name, he'd be in the MVP conversation. He instead has clips of him being visibly frustrated during sloppy wins going viral. […]
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is on track to play a full season and miss the playoffs for the first time in his career. If he did have a winning record attached to his name, he'd be in the MVP conversation. He instead has clips of him being visibly frustrated during sloppy wins going viral.
The losing has taken a toll on Burrow this season, and according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, it's not something that's been fabricated.
Breer went on 92.3 The Fan recently to discuss what he believes is going on with the Bengals' franchise quarterback throughout this year.
"I think he's really, really frustrated. I don't think it's an act. I think it's genuine," Breer said. "I think it's frustrating for him because I think he's done a lot to kind of change the face of the Bengals the last few years. And I think he's been at the forefront of that, and kind of helping to flip the identity the team. It feels like there's some same old Bengals things happening where spending cost them in some areas and they haven't developed players in other areas. So, like, I think there's some frustration with that, for sure."
Cincinnati's plans to sustain a talented roster have fallen egregiously flat this season. Free agency decisions have backfired just as much as most of their draft picks have over the past two years. To top it all off, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins still need new contracts.
The only major decision the front office has succeeded in doing is extending Burrow, and that was essentially a layup.
A lot of these struggles stem from the Bengals' unwillingness to structure player contracts like other contending teams do. Lack of guaranteed commitments have cost them some of their best players in recent memory. It's why Chase and Higgins still don't have extensions.
If practices like this don't change very soon, Breer says it's not going to diminish any tension Burrow may feel towards his team.
"If I were the Bengals, I'd be very, very careful," Breer said. "Winning is very important to him, and I don't think he's gonna sit around forever, and let the things that have cost the Bengals in the past cost them again."
The Bengals hitched themselves to Burrow when they made him the highest-paid player in the NFL last year. The last thing they can afford to do is push him over the edge by not doing their absolute best to support him.
If Breer is correct, they'll need to act as quickly as this offseason to start turning things around.
Zac Taylor wants to continue sending a message before Bengals games in the most practical way he can
“I’m not trying to ruin a good thing.”
