Joe Burrow Endorses Bengals' Moves, Predicts Super Bowl Title: 'Most Talented Roster Since I've Been Here'

Joe Burrow spent a lot of time answering questions about all the moves the Cincinnati Bengals front office made this offseason and his role – or lack thereof – in them during his first news conference with the local media since the end of last season.

But he condensed his most emphatic endorsement into a single sentence:

“This is the most talented roster we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

How good is it?

“We’re gonna win a lot of games this year and play great and win the Super Bowl,” Burrow said confidently.

The 2021 roster obviously took the Bengals to Super Bowl 56, but the one in 2022 was even stronger, ripping off a 10-game winning streak to that got Cincinnati back to the AFC Championship Game before a late penalty of Joseph Ossai pushed the Chiefs into position for a game-winning field goal.

A common theme in those rosters early in Burrow’s career and the one in place this year was how active the front office was in in free agency.

The biggest difference is that the front office stepped out of its comfort zone and took a massive swing by trading the No. 10 pick in the draft for Dexter Lawrence.

“The front office has taken a lot of heat from the fans, the public, the media. We can put all of that behind us,” Burrow said. “They went and made it happen with free agency. And then obviously with Dexter, making a trade like that, that doesn't happen a ton in the NFL. So it's exciting to see.”

What was his reaction when he found out the Lawrence trade was happening?

“I was fired up, obviously,” Burrow said. “It's tough to find a guy at pick No. 10 that's gonna have more of an impact than Dexter will. So it's exciting that we went and made that happen.

“I just think we know where we needed to be better, and we went out and aggressively made it happen,” he added. “We filled some holes that we had from years past, got better at a lot of positions. Signed the best free agent safety (Bryan Cook). Got the best D tackle in the league, in my opinion. So we have everything we need in that locker room. We just have to go make it happen.”

Given how good the offense was in 2025, and how bad the defense was, there was a lot of speculation about Burrow putting mandates on the front office.

He said there were discussions but no demands.

“I would say we had a lot of communication during free agency,” Burrow said. “We didn’t have our postseason meeting like we typically have. I would say if anything, I was less involved this year than in years past.

“There’s no secret that the last several years didn’t go the way we wanted to, and there’s a lot of blame to go around for that, myself included,” he continued. “And so, we’re in a great spot this year. We brought in great people and great players. You can feel the vibes of the locker room. The energy is elevated right now. We have some veteran guys that can come in and show the younger guys on defense what it takes, what it means to be great every day. That’s exciting to be a part of.”

Burrow cited a timing issue for the lack of an in-person, season-ending meeting and that it wasn’t intentional.

“Just kind of how it happened,” he said.

Four months later, none of that matters.

“We’ve got guys that work really hard to put themselves in position to perform well, perform to our standard” Burrow said. “We haven’t necessarily done that for a couple of years, so we brought some guys in who have been there and done that and have their own standard of play and are going to live up to that. Now we just have to come together as a unit and do it as a collective.”

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more! We're a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the 65,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.

Add us as a preferred source on Google