Former Bengals Star Drills Down Top Reason Joe Burrow Trade is Highly Unlikely

Andrew Whitworth is getting ready for the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament next month (July 8-12th) and went through a wide-ranging interview with Athlon Sports ahead of the event.

One big topic was Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, whom the former Cincinnati offensive line stalwart doesn't think has any realistic chance of leaving the Queen City any time soon.

High Price

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) jogs during spring practice on at the Kettering Practice Fields on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Whitowrth broke down the main reason why with Athlon Sports' DJ Siddiqi.

"Well, I just think that for one, what is Joe Burrow worth in an open market of people trying to trade for him? I mean, it’s got to be something insane," Whitworth said to Siddiqi. "And then with Cincinnati and a league that’s driven by who you have holding the football in their hand every time you snap a football, would you ever give up Joe Burrow? I think that it’s a fun narrative more than it’s a realistic narrative, and that’s kind of what I mean. When I think of the organizations that would take that swing, one of them already just took the swing with Myles Garrett and the draft and Ty Simpson and everything else in the Rams.

"I think to me they’re the kind of organization that takes massive swings like that. I mean, Philly takes massive swings like that; they’ve got Jalen Hurts and kind of a different roster now. I don’t know, I’m trying to think of the organizations. I mean, San Francisco, maybe, but Brock Purdy seems to be the guy who’s the future there. I’m trying to think of some of the front offices that would really take a swing like that. It would take a lot, because I doubt they would do anybody (for a trade) except the NFC. So I just don’t see a realistic destination that would be something that actually happens."

Burrow is one of the highest-paid players in the NFL and would require an obscene draft haul to even get in the ballpark of trade thoughts.

Whitworth knows a franchise player when he sees one, having played (and won a Super Bowl) with reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. He doesn't see the Bengals' surely lofty trade-haul requirement coming close to anything another team could afford to give up.

The biggest quarterback trades in NFL history have rarely ever involved a star passer knowingly in their prime, let alone a modern one. Burrow is consistently viewed as a top-five quarterback in the NFL, and there are very few trades equating that right-now value.

Check out the full chat with Whitworth here.

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