Burrow happy to be a Bengal, his father says

As far as Ohio losers go, the Browns get all the attention. But let’s not sleep on the Bengals, who are right up there in terms of sadsack quotient.

All that losing finally has paid off, as Cincinnati holds the No. 1 pick in the draft for the first time since 2003. And, barring some sort of unexpected surprise, the Bengals seem likely to use that pick on LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who exploded onto the scene this season by leading LSU to the national title.

Burrow would be fine with this, at least according to his father.

“You’re not gonna get picked by a team that has a great record. So, you know, he’s excited to even be in that conversation. If the Bengals do draft him, he’s gonna be happy,” Jim Burrow told TSN 690 radio in Montreal.

“You’ve probably seen some of his interviews. He’s very confident. And he’ll look at it as a challenge. But he’ll be confident that eventually they can win a lot of games there at Cincinnati. But, you know, the Ohio people are ecstatic about this opportunity, maybe, that could happen. But there’s a long way between now and the draft. That’s for sure.”

Joe Burrow spent his formative years in Athens, Ohio, about 165 miles to the east of Cincinnati, and began his college career at Ohio State. His father was an assistant for the Ohio University football team. Him going to the Bengals makes a whole lot of sense.

The Bengals almost certainly will be in the market for a quarterback.

Andy Dalton is 32 and at one point this past season was benched in favour of rookie Ryan Finley, who struggled.

Dalton has one year left on his contract at a team-friendly salary cap figure, so the Bengals can keep him for a year as a mentor/insurance policy.

Perhaps more likely, if Burrow is the plan, they can see if they can get anything for him via trade.