Joe

Burrow

Burrow was unsurprisingly the winner while receiving 31-of-50 first-place votes. The 28-year-old signal-caller was superb with a 43/9 TD/INT ratio and 4,918 yards after playing in just 10 games in 2024. J.K. Dobbins finished second in voting with Sam Darnold placing third.

These core players, of course, are Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Trey Hendrickson, and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Mike Gesicki. Of the above-mentioned players, Higgins and Gesicki are the only players currently set to hit free agency, but the Bengals will need to work out a deal with Chase this off-season after putting off an extension with him last summer. Chase is a virtual lock to emerge as the highest-paid receiver in the league when all is said and done after he posted career highs in receptions (127), receiving yards (1,708), and receiving touchdowns (17), which also led all receivers in 2024. Whether or not a restructured deal for Burrow would create enough cap space to keep all key players in Cincinnati is to be determined, but the QB1 has been vocal about his desire to see the team keep its best players in tow for 2025 and beyond.

Burrow did head to the injury tent for a moment in the first half, but he didn’t miss any plays. It ends a regular season that was one of the 2020 first-overall pick’s best, as he threw for 43 touchdowns against nine picks while adding a couple of scores on the ground. The 28-year-old very likely could be missing Tee Higgins next season, but Ja’Marr Chase will almost assuredly be back for the 28-year-old signal-caller. Burrow’s season is likely over, but if the Broncos and Dolphins both lose, he and Cincinnati will get the seventh seed against Buffalo.

Burrow has been a mainstay of the injury report this year but has not been affected by any of his minor issues. He will be out there for a must-win game versus the Steelers on Saturday. Cincinnati needs to win plus get losses from Denver and Miami to make the playoffs. While their odds of those things all happening are low, Burrow’s QB1 odds remain sky-high.

He spoke to the media. He’s been listed several times over the last month-and-change with these same two injuries. Burrow will play on Saturday against the Steelers for the right to keep the Bengals’ season alive at least one more night. The listings are just to manage his workload in practice.

This one was a battle, and Burrow led the victorious side through numerous setbacks. Burrow took seven sacks from the team leading the league in total sacks this season, Ja’Marr Chase saw shadow coverage from arguably the top coverage corner in the league in Pat Surtain, and the team missed a field goal in overtime as it appeared their season was slipping through their fingertips. Burrow fought through it all while accounting for four touchdowns, all three passing scores of which were caught by Tee Higgins. The Bengals kept their season mathematically alive but will need to beat the Steelers in Week 18 while getting some help from the Chiefs over the Broncos to sneak into the No. 7 seed out of the AFC.

Burrow has played through this designation multiple times this year, so this is no surprise at this point. The star quarterback is likely just getting managed ahead of Saturday’s win-or-season-over showdown against the Broncos.

Burrow and the Bengals were in control from the start. On their first offensive drive of the day, the Bengals strung together three straight plays of 20-plus yards and capped the 99-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins. He would later connect with Andrei Iosivas on a six-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and topped his strong day with a 32-yard score to Ja’Marr Chase with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the game well out of reach. Burrow’s lone blemish of the day came on a sack/fumble that was recovered by the Browns in their own red zone. Burrow’s elite play continues to be the one thing keeping the Bengals’ playoff hopes afloat, as they’ve now won three-straight games to push their record to 7-8. They’ll look to pull out a fourth-straight win next week against the Broncos, where Burrow will remain on the QB1 radar.

Ditto Joe Burrow. Higgins is being “managed” per Taylor, but he doesn’t have any concern about his workload in Week 16. Fire up Higgins in the WR2 as you normally would. Higgins seems likely to get this sort of treatment down the stretch. Higgins is also a potential shutdown candidate if the Bengals are officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Burrow got the same maintenance treatment for last Wednesday’s practice and was cleared from the report entirely by Friday. He’ll do the same this week. Still not technically eliminated from the playoffs, Burrow and the Bengals offense are playing with their lives on the line this week. Expect another QB1 outing from Burrow when he takes on the NFC North rival Browns.