02-03-2020, 10:26 AM
(02-02-2020, 07:49 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: leave Bengledom IF MB goes with TJs premise and trades away first pick to the highest bidder?
For background: I was the one guy that was tentative to say Burrow until I really watched him closely at the end of the season. I wanted Miami's haul, and then some. I feared that a QB would get ruined here, and there were going to be other opportunities in the draft like Lawrence and Fields. I also really wanted a VERY mobile QB.
Then I saw Burrow put up a 60 burger on Oklahoma. I saw him demonstrate not only great mobility but pocket awareness and elusiveness. I was impressed but discounted a lot of what he did because I didn't have a very high opinion of Oklahoma's defense. Then, I saw him put of 463 passing yards and 5 passing TDs against Clemson, who did have a strong defense. I also saw him rush for 59 yards and another TD, for good measure.
But stats only tell part of the picture. Burrow is the whole package: Confident, leader, tough, vision, arm strength, mobility, and perhaps most important: He gets it. The guy just gets it. He has gratitude to the players and coaches that helped him along the way. He could have been a cocky jerk and made a comment to OSU like "not bad for third string, huh?" but instead, he thanked them and had gratitude. He is about his community and seems to be everything you could want out of a QB and (unlike a spoiled baby that should remain nameless) this guy is all about taking a program that is struggling and making a winner out of them. Look what Kurt Warner did for the Rams and Cards. That is the guy I want.
Right now, I would rather risk getting made fun of for turning away an entire draft (a la Akili Smith) than losing Burrow. The Lions had a run of horrible busts at WR but they still took Calvin Johnson and he changed their franchise....and that was a WR. Burrow can do what everyone has said Dalton can't and that is make everyone better around him.
Now, do I think he will come in and be a top 5 QB his rookie season? No. But I want to see him have his career here, in Cincinnati. I think it is going to be an amazing ride and I don't see him EVER taking his foot off the gas and lighting a victory cigar again until he hoists a Lombardi.
Keep your picks, I want this kid here.