Where Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow sits compared to the rest of the NFL’s passers is one of the more interesting conversations around the position.
Buy Bengals TicketsBurrow, after all, just led the Bengals to the Super Bowl and was notably improved last season in key areas. But detractors will point to things like a reliance on Ja’Marr Chase, etc., to spice up the debate.
Either way, The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz just dished his initial 2022 quarterback rankings with Aaron Rodgers at the very top. Burrow doesn’t make an appearance until the ninth slot: “A TOUGH PLAYMAKER WITH DEADEYE ACCURACY and sharp mind, Burrow just needs to add a few MPH to his fastball to break into the elite tier.”
Burrow lands an accuracy grade of 95 but an arm talent grade of just 76. A creativity grade of 83 seems to bring things down, too.
The writeup lists Burrow’s arm talent as his biggest weakness:
“Thanks to his accuracy and anticipation, Burrow has overcome any arm inadequacies. From time-to-time, he’ll skip a deep out or have a deep ball die on him mid-flight, but the young signal-caller knows his limitations. Burrow will gladly take an underneath option if he knows he doesn’t have the arm to get the ball to the receiver further downfield, even if he’s open.”
It’s certainly an interesting conversation to have. Burrow notably spent time during his knee rehab one year ago tweaking his throwing motion, which appeared to put more velocity on his throws visibly. Even if it didn’t, does a lack of velocity mean all that much if he’s compensating for it so well?
The debate won’t go away anytime soon, especially now that Burrow sits behind the likes of Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott, among others, on this particular list.
