Joe Burrow Confirms His Intent To Be A Bengal For His Whole Career, So Go Ahead And Retire Your "They'll Never Pay Him" Takes
Not to suggest that Joe Burrow will leave a ton of money on the table and dip way below his market value when he inevitably signs a monster second contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, but he has to know it's an uphill battle to get that extension done. Thankfully, Joe Cool is all ball, all the time. With how convicted he is and how much belief he's inspired throughout the Bengals organization, there's no reason to doubt him here in this neat one-on-one sit-down with NBC Sports' Maria Taylor (full interview here).
Not only is Joe Brrr getting out in front of any imagined controversy about his contract, but he's also stumping for Zac Taylor to be his head coach indefinitely.
Zac has taken a lot of heat to say the least. I even remember calling him, in boldfaced type, a "below-average play-caller" when Cincinnati lost to the Ravens in Week 5. To his credit and the rest of the coaching staff, the Bengals overcame their sluggish start, made adjustments and are rolling into Sunday's Wild Card matchup with Baltimore on an eight-game winning streak.
According to Burrow, the Bengals are officially, more or less, playing 3D chess from a schematic standpoint.
In my view, the only big potential hangup on a mega Burrow contract is the fact that Bengals owner Mike Brown isn't nearly as liquid as his counterparts around the league. Brown has to put a large chunk of money from Burrow's total contract in escrow due to the NFL's funding rule. As Mike Florio reported, Cleveland's Jimmy Haslam had $169 million in escrow following the acquisition of disgraced QB Deshaun Watson and his $230 million deal.
I have a feeling Joey B has the maturity and big-picture perspective to not be bedeviled by the details and not take offense to how the structure of his deal compares to the likes of elite peers like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. To make sure there's enough room to retain his two top weapons in Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, along with as many core Bengals as possible, I guarantee you Joe Burrow is willing to do just about anything, or at the very least, be far more flexible than other QBs in his position.
A small fraction of me is speaking this into existence to an extent. However, I trust in Burrow, I trust in Duke Tobin and Mike Brown, and, smooth segue...IN TAYLOR I TRUST.
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