A week ago, a big question followed the Cincinnati Bengals out of their second preseason game — What’s going on with Jermaine Burton?
The hyped rookie was dominant in his NFL debut, albeit playing with fourth-stringers. Then, in his second game, his biggest contribution was suddenly playing as a returner on special teams for the first time in his career.
Fast forward to the third preseason game, there was Burton again with the end-of-depth-chart players putting up big numbers, catching four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.
After the game? Burton hit the “Bengals Booth Podcast” with Dan Hoard and offered some really telling comments.
“I could’ve been better in how I’ve been handling my business in my preseason,” Burton said. “I could lock in more on my details and the things that I did wrong, but it’s all about how you handle it. It’s all about what it means to you and I feel like I need to do a better job of showing how much this means to me.”
We’ll probably never get full details on what exactly what has been transpiring behind the scenes with the Bengals and Burton.
And while it’s easy to point at supposed character concerns that pushed him down the draft board, Burton’s “could lock in more” seems to do some heavy lifting in the above quote. Whether that’s attention off the field or having yet to earn Joe Burrow’s trust with timing and routes, who knows?
What we do know? Burton’s been incredibly open and self-reflective, if not even critical in interviews this preseason. And that would seem to be the first step.
For now, Burton probably doesn’t see the field much as a rookie, with that third spot at wideout going to Andrei Iosivas, Trent Irwin and some Mike Gesicki for good measure. But Burton sounds ready to keep scratching and clawing his way up, which could mean a big rookie year should injuries arise, or one heck of a possible sophomore 2025.
