Bengals leaving no stone unturned in search for Joe Burrow's perfect offense
CINCINNATI — The Bengals have been impressed with what they've seen and heard from Joe Burrow during this unprecedented virtual offseason.
The 23-year-old is coming off of arguably the best season in college football history. Now he's tasked with rejuvenating a franchise that has had four straight losing seasons and hasn't won a playoff game in nearly 30 years.
Head coach Zac Taylor and the rest of the Bengals' coaching staff is doing their part to make sure Burrow is comfortable going into his rookie season.
"We kind of studied trends and numerous teams that are doing good things on offense," offensive coordinator Brian Callahan told Bengals.com. "Third down and red zone. See what teams are doing. See what they're doing well and why and if you can incorporate them, you do that. I think we've done a good job studying around the league that can help us. We studied a lot of things from LSU. Obviously if the quarterback is comfortable, everyone is comfortable."
They're tailoring the offense toward his strengths. Most of the playbook has been installed, but they know adjustments will be made between now and the start of the season.
The coaches have looked at the Chiefs, 49ers and Rams, among other teams to see what worked for them on offense. Obviously they've studied Burrow's LSU tape. They're hoping to take the best pieces of those offenses to make sure the top pick is set up for success.
"We have to find out what works for us. That's our ultimate goal," Callahan continued. "Give our guys the best chance to go win matchups and be great in situations they know they can be great. We looked different than the Rams last year because we're a different team with different types of players and we'll look different than LSU because we have different types of players even though they might have concepts that are similar."
The Bengals have given Burrow plenty of weapons to work with, assuming A.J. Green returns to form after missing all of last season with an ankle injury. How many No. 1 picks walk into a seven-time Pro Bowler, a back-to-back 1,000-yard receiver in Tyler Boyd, plus John Ross, Tee Higgins and Joe Mixon?
The coaching staff is focused on maximizing Burrow's talent, which means getting the most out of those around him.
"It's our job to find things he does well enough, show case that and it's the job of the guys around to help him by doing what they do best," Callahan said. "I want Joe Burrow to be himself. Do what he does best and be himself authentically as a person and I think you'll get all that from him."
The Bengals completely remade their roster this offseason. It's one thing to get a few players up to speed, but this team added eight free agents, seven draft picks and 10 more undrafted free agents. Combine that with the departures of veterans like Andy Dalton and Dre Kirkpatrick and the coaching staff is dealing with quite a challenge due to COVID-19.
They're doing everything they can to put Burrow in a position to succeed, even though they haven't seen him in-person since the NFL Combine in February.
"You can evaluate his personality, his work ethic, his confidence," Callahan said. "We haven't evaluated anything physically. It's a historic offseason in that regard with a rookie quarterback having no actual reps from the time he got drafted until the time the season starts. It's going to be a challenge for us."
