Former LSU Football Quarterback Joe Burrow Agrees to Contract with Cincinnati Bengals
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow has agreed to his rookie contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Multiple reports state that Burrow signed a contract worth $36.1 million on Tuesday with a $23.88 million signing bonus. It’s the largest rookie contract signed since Sam Bradford was drafted No. 1 overall by the St. Louis Rams in 2010.
The Heisman winner and No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft is hoping to change the Bengals franchise for the better after his historic 2019 season in purple and gold. Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and an NCAA record 60 touchdowns en route to the Tigers winning the national championship.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the signing bonus Burrow is set to receive will be dealt within the first 15 days of him signing his contract.
Until recently, Burrow has spent the last few months back home in Athens, Ohio, living in his childhood home with his parents and running through zoom meetings in the basement.
“My dad likes to make the joke that I’m a 23-year-old millionaire living in my parents basement,” Burrow joked in an interview on Pardon My Take back in May. “It hits close to home.”
The 23-year-old will step into a locker room with plenty of weapons around him including AJ Green, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon. Now that training camp is right around the corner, perhaps Burrow’s best trait will finally be revealed.
"I think it's leadership," Burrow said after the draft. "I've always been really, really good at bringing everybody together to form a common goal, and I think my work ethic kind of permeates throughout the team. I'm excited to get around all the guys and everybody within that building."
In the months following his selection, Burrow has reportedly spent countless zoom calls with the Bengals staff and players trying to learn the playbook so he would be ready once training camp starts. One of the popular stories to come out of those meetings was the Bengals coaching staff asking him to slow down at one point during a meeting.
“Sometimes he would say things early on and I’d say, we are not talking about that right now, let’s just get through what we need to get through here and then we can revisit that later,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said. “We will probably answer that question you have in a day or two days or three days because we are not there yet. I know you are, but we’re not.”
Burrow has drawn some rave comparisons in the months since being drafted but perhaps none more so than from college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
“I'm not putting a Tom Brady label on him, but a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type," Herbstreit said while making an appearance on Move the Sticks Joe Burrow 360 special.. "He's at the facility preparing on Sunday. He just won by 40 yesterday and, on Sunday, he's there for eight hours looking at the next game. He's like a coach. He was a coach that played quarterback in his fifth year. He knew the answers to every question."
