Bengals Have "Maxed Out" Pre Draft Meeting Time on LSU Quarterback Joe Burrow, Miami Not "Trading the Farm"
Perhaps two separate reports have provided a little more clarity on where things stand with LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and the 2020 draft. Burrow is the closest thing to a lock for going No. 1 overall in next week's draft and with the latest report from Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, there's little doubt who he'll wind up with.
As part of Breer's latest piece, he reported that the Cincinnati Bengals have "maxed out" their allotted time with Burrow during the pre draft process.
I’m told the Bengals have maxed out their time with Burrow over the last few weeks, as they work to build a relationship with him. What does that mean? Well, each team is allowed to do three one-hour calls with each prospect per week. So every week, Cincinnati has done, yes, three one-hour calls with Burrow. If you listened to my podcast with Burrow’s trainer, Jordan Palmer, a few weeks back, you heard him say that the training for Burrow has been focused on getting him ready to play in Week 1. The amount of meetings he’s had with the team that’ll likely draft him can’t hurt in that regard either.
The fact that the Bengals are pouring this much time and effort into building that relationship with Burrow is a strong indication that he'll be putting on a Bengals hat from his home in Athens, Ohio.
To further combat Burrow's likelihood of ending up with the Bengals, NBC Sports Peter King reported that the Miami Dolphins, a team that could offer a trade package enticing enough to move to No. 1, are not willing to "trade the farm."
I do hear that he and coach Brian Flores are very much against trading the farm to move up to get Burrow—which some in the organization want to do. I doubt owner Stephen Ross will pull the owner card and force a mega-offer to try to move up to number one, but we’ll see. “You can’t say anything with certainty on Tua,” Mel Kiper says.
Just last week, King laid out a potential offer that would include sending four first round picks from Miami to Cincinnati in exchange for the rights to draft Burrow.
"Miami owner Stephen Ross has made it priority one in the organization to find the next Dan Marino, or at least some reasonable facsimile," King wrote. "At all costs, a franchise quarterback must be procured. Pronto."
That option grows less and less likely by the day as all along it made sense for the Bengals to draft the "hometown hero" to change the franchise.
