Joe Burrow Turns Clock Back As Star QB Will Play In Preseason

Joe Burrow is a fan of the old school.

While the modern gameplan in the NFL is to swaddle nearly every team’s stars in bubble wrap during the preseason in order to avoid serious injuries, Burrow wants to play in the summer.

The reason: he wants the Bengals get off to a good start for the first time since the 2021 season. Cincinnati lost its first three games last year and the team’s 1-4 start was one of the primary reasons this talented group missed the playoffs. It wasn’t much better in 2023 when the Bengals started with three losses in their first four games and they were 2-3 at the start of the 2022 season.

Burrow has almost never played during the preseason and he believes that his lack of play during the preseason is a big reason why. He has been pushing head coach Zac Taylor for playing time in this year’s preseason so he can be ready to start the season in prime form when the Bengals start the season on the road against the Cleveland Browns in Week One.

Burrow has had multiple injuries in the past – ACL, calf and wrist along with an appendectomy – but the slow Cincinnati starts have worn on him mentally. He wants to see his team get back to elite status after missing the playoffs two years in a row, and he believes this means playing in the preseason.

“Coaches know how I’ve felt about that, and how I’ve always thought that that would benefit me,” Burrow said. “I think other positions, you have to be a little careful, because how physical that those positions are, but for me, those reps are valuable.”

Burrow believes the multiple rule changes over the years have given quarterbacks protection from the kind of hits that would result in a disastrous preseason injury, and he has apparently convinced Taylor to let him play in the three-game preseason.

While injuries could scuttle plans, Burrow could see action in two preseason games this summer. Perhaps the first quarter in Cincinnati’s second preseason game against the Washington Commanders and the first half in the third game against the Indianapolis Colts.

QB battle unfolds in Indy

The Colts have a legitimate quarterback battle on their hands this summer where former Giant Daniel Jones will try to take the starter’s job from oft-injured and inaccurate Anthony Richardson.

Give Jones the inside track on the job until Richardson can prove he can throw the ball accurately. Richardson is a brilliant athlete who can run the ball with authority when he decides to carry it himself. However, sitting in the pocket, surveying the field and delivering the ball to a receiver who has a step on the defender is a major weakness. He has a career completion percentage of 50.6 percent, a figure that was common in the 1960s and is simply no longer acceptable.

It will be very hard for Richardson to prove himself, but Jones does not have a brilliant NFL track record either. He is more accurate than Richardson, so unless he falls apart in the preseason, he is likely to start the season opener against the Miami Dolphins.

Wilson named as Giants’ QB1

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll has already tapped veteran Russell Wilson as the team’s starter even though he has failed to distinguish himself since the 2021 season when he made the Pro Bowl as the Seattle Seahawks QB1. He had a 25-6 touchdown to interception ratio that season, which was his last in the Pacific Northwest.

The 36-year-old Wilson has had unimpressive stints with the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers since, and this go-round with the Giants would seemingly serve as his last opportunity to start in the NFL.

While it sounds like Daboll has made his decision, what happens if rookie Jaxson Dart actually has an excellent showing during the preseason? It sounds like the head coach wants Dart to have something of a redshirt season in his rookie year, but general manager Joe Schoen appears to have left the door open for the rookie from Ole Miss to play.

“I think there’s some real benefits from sitting and learning, specifically from some of the guys in the room that have the experience that they have,” Schoen said. “But if the coaching staff at some point feels it’s right and (Dart’s) ready, then I’ll leave that up to them.”

Veteran Jameis Winston is Wilson’s backup and he could fill in for a game or two if Daboll needs to make a quarterback change at one point, but the 10-year veteran threw a league-worst 30 interceptions in 2019, the last time he was an NFL starter.

The decision to start Wilson looks like a shaky one for a team that was 3-14 a year ago and has had just one postseason appearance in the last eight years.