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Joe Burrow Gifted His Offensive Linemen Literal Fossils for Christmas This Year

Joe Burrow might be the best gift-giver in the NFL.

Tyler Lauletta

Joe Burrow makes for one impressive Secret Santa.
Joe Burrow makes for one impressive Secret Santa. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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The tradition of quarterbacks buying gifts for their offensive linemen has long been practiced in the NFL, but Joe Burrow might be in a league of his own when it comes to playing Santa.

As ESPN’s Ben Baby reported this week, Burrow gifted his linemen literal fossils this year. On Monday, Burrow had his teammates over to his house, where they were able to take their pick from a selection of “authentic dinosaur, bear and mammoth fossils.” Fossil drafting order was determined by a combination of seniority and whoever arrived at Burrow’s house first.

It’s not the first time Burrow has gone above and beyond for his linemen—last year, the Bengals quarterback gifted his teammates genuine samurai swords, which also went over as a complete hit among the recipients.

Orlando Brown Jr., who took home a cave bear skull from this year’s festivities, said he was excited to display it next to his sword from last year.

“It says a lot about who he is—his personality, his heart, all of those things, man,” Brown said. “He's just a special person.”

Burrow’s fascination with fossils became public last year thanks to his appearance on Netflix’s Quarterback

Burrow is known as a man of many interests, once teasing buying himself a working Batmobile, just to have it. His love of fossils became known to the world thanks to a clip from the Netflix documentary series Quarterback, which has once again been making the rounds on social media.

In the clip, Burrow is discussing a trip he took with teammates to the Natural History Museum, and the behind-the-scenes look they got at their fossil collection.

“When aren't fossils on your mind?” Burrow said to producers when asked about the trip. “They go back millions of years. That’s sick.”

While it’s clear that his teammates appreciated Burrow’s kind gesture, there were some online that were quick to make jokes about the longevity of fossils as compared to the quarterback’s ability to stay healthy and on the field.

While the Bengals won’t be playing in the postseason this year, Burrow is at least back on the field and finding his groove again after a turf toe injury derailed his 2025 campaign.

By next Christmas, maybe he will be gifting his teammates with a playoff run in addition to whatever Santa shenanigans he comes up with.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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