Joe Burrow Reportedly May Have Had 'Bad Day' When Making Football 'Has To Be Fun' Comments

CINCINNATI — ESPN NFL insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano discussed Joe Burrow's attitude toward the Bengals this week. The quarterback's somber press conference from a few weeks ago has led to theories that he isn't happy with the team, but neither reporter sees it that way.

Fowler said a source told him they believed Burrow was "having a bad day" in general when he talked about having fun playing football.

"My sense is the Bengals have not received any indication that Burrow wants out of Cincinnati," Fowler wrote. "One team source believed that Burrow was simply having a 'bad day' two weeks ago at that initial news conference that sparked the consternation, saying, 'I truly think he wants to be here,' and that he has been great in game prep. Assuming the Bengals will run it back with coach Zac Taylor, whose contract runs through the 2027 season, then all signs point to Burrow staying with the franchise next season."

Burrow had plenty of fun passing for 309 yards and four scores in Sunday's 45-21 win over the Dolphins.

“It was fun,” Burrow said in his postgame press conference. “I’m having fun playing football. Not playing football is not fun. Sitting in the locker room rehabbing all day, that’s not why you do it. This is why you do it right here.”

It was a great bounce back following last Sunday's 24-0 shutout loss to the Ravens.

“I thought I played a clean game,” Burrow continued. “I thought I protected the ball for the most part. I got greedy with one over the middle, but that’s how I have to play — play within the scheme and then take my opportunities to try to make a play when I can. But going to limit that for the most part at this point, I was just happy with how we all executed today.”

Cincinnati has the passer under contract for four more seasons. They are not even thinking about trading away a player of his caliber, but they have to start building things up better around him.

They've missed the playoffs in eight of the past 10 seasons in large part due to bad drafting outside the top five, a high spot they will not be picking in this season, despite being 5-10 overall. Maybe they can inject new defensive talent in a similar way to how they did in free agency to start the decade.

Cincinnati is forecast to have the eighth-most cap space in the NFL next season with nearly $70 million to work with.

Check out the full ESPN back and forth here.

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