Zac Taylor says Bengals likely keeping No. 1 pick, as team reportedly maxes out meeting time with Joe Burrow
The Bengals have had their eyes on Joe Burrow all offseason and plan on taking him with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft next week.
Burrow sealed the deal at the NFL Combine, impressing the Cincinnati brass in their private meeting.
Since then, the Bengals have maxed out their time with the LSU star according to SI’s own Albert Breer. Each team is allowed to conduct a maximum of three one-hour calls with the same prospect per week. That means Cincinnati has had three one-hour with Burrow every week.
It's just one more indicator that the Bengals have made up their minds about who they’re taking with the No. 1 pick.
The meeting time also gives the coaching staff a chance to review the X’s and O’s with Burrow as much as possible to get a head start on what could be an offseason without in-person OTA’s or minicamp.
That doesn’t mean the Bengals sent Burrow their playbook, which would be a CBA violation. They're allowed to discuss different schematic styles and watch film together in an effort to get Burrow prepared for what's next.
Zac Taylor gave another clue that Burrow is their guy on Monday morning during an appearance on the Dan Patrick show.
“It doesn’t look that way,” Taylor said when asked if the team could change its mind about the top pick. “If there’s a guy there that you believe in that can really change the franchise over the next 10-15 years then that’s a hard thing to pass up on. People all the time ask me ‘what would it take to give up that pick?’ If there’s somebody there that people are willing to give up a lot for — that they believe in, then that really verifies what we think about those players as well.”
The Bengals are picking Burrow with the top pick on April 23. They hope it’s just the start of something special in Cincinnati.
