Joe Burrow, the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, has shown that he is more than worthy of his record-breaking contract, making him the most valuable player in the NFL in terms of money, even when he is not playing. He has demonstrated during the season that he is the best teammate in a number of ways, including by spending time in meetings assisting his defense and coaching his replacement Jake Browning after the injury that terminated his season. However, this week he officially went above and beyond.
During the closely contested Week 15 matchup against the Minesota Vikings, Burrow was seen wearing a headset. He apparently joked in a team group chat on Saturday before the game that he wasn’t sure how welcome his was on the communications line by the coaching staff. In the post-game press conference, Head Coach Zac Taylor refuted the comments by his franchise player.
Burrow was on the headset yesterday talking. You know, I was texting with him last night,” Taylor said Sunday. “And he just said, ‘You know, I just never know how much to say.’ And I said, ‘I’ll tell you when to shut up. Trust me.’ So, I’m not scared to tell people to shut up on the headset. But again, just guys like that, that are invaluable to be on the sidelines. They see it from a different lens than we do.
Although it is uncommon to see a player trusted on the sidelines with a headset, Burrow has proven he is not your average player. Burrow has practically taken on the role of an extra quarterback coach since Browning has benefited greatly from his guidance.
Browning has statistically been the second-best quarterback in the league during his tenure as starting quarterback with a spectacular quarterback rating of 107.1. While he clearly has his own competitive fire, I’m sure he wouldn’t even disagree that the franchise quarterback’s selfless assistance hasn’t been a huge contributor.
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