I shouldn't be surprised by bad Joe Burrow takes at this point, but sometimes one pops up that's so absurd that you can't help but to be surprised. 

And one of those popped up this week. 

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt ranked his top five quarterback prospects since 2012 and somehow Burrow wasn't No. 1 on his list. In fact, he wasn't even No. 2. 

Here are Klatt's rankings: 

1. Caleb Williams — USC
2. Trevor Lawrence — Clemson
3. Joe Burrow — LSU
4. Drake Maye — North Carolina
5. Bryce Young — Alabama

If I were to rank, as prospects, the QBs since 2012 (Andrew Luck, RGIII) here is how they would stack up
1) Caleb Williams
2) Trevor Lawrence
3) Joe Burrow
4) Drake Maye
5) Bryce Young
*note: evaluation of Mahomes was difficult & no QB had suceeded from that offense prior)

— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) February 19, 2024

Just laughable stuff from Klatt. 

Burrow should be No. 1 on that list and the gap to the next player is quite large.

I mean, Burrow was coming off one of the best seasons we've ever seen from a college football quarterback in 2019 ahead of becoming the No. 1 selection by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft. He won a Heisman Trophy while leading LSU to a 15-0 record when he wasn't even on the radar as an "elite" quarterback prospect when the season started. 

By the end of the 2019 season, there were no questions about Burrow's game. He didn't have the strongest arm, but he could make all the throws. He could seemingly see the field better than anyone in the sport. And he had the respect of his teammates. It became obvious that Burrow had that competitive dog in him that takes his game to the next level. 

And what did Caleb Williams or Trevor Lawrence accomplish in college that Burrow didn't? 

Lawrence lost head-to-head to Burrow in the national championship game in early 2020. That alone should put Burrow above Lawrence on Klatt's list. 

And as for Williams, the hype around him is incredibly manufactured. Sure, he's put up some decent numbers (they're still nowhere close to Burrow's numbers in 2019), but USC regressed in his second season as a starter. That's a major red flag. And Williams' off-the-field demeanor raised some serious questions this past season — refusing to speak to reporters after USC's loss to UCLA was all I needed to see to know that whoever takes Williams at No. 1 will be wasting a draft pick. 

Burrow had the numbers, the leadership attributes, the wins, and the hardware that no one else on this list had as a prospect. There's simply no way that Williams or Lawrence were better prospects coming out of college. And anyone who thinks that needs to stay far away from NFL front offices. 

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