Joe

Burrow

“I do expect teams to call the Cincinnati Bengals,” Rapoport said. There was a brief groundswell of the idea of a Burrow trade towards the end of the season when he let loose on how bad he was feeling at a press conference, but even if he had wanted out, the Bengals have always played hardball with their players that they want to keep. The Bengals, per Rapoport, will instead channel Burrow’s belief that things need to change into spending and getting better on defense. We’ll believe that when we see it.

Once again, a fateful injury defined Burrow and the Bengals’ season. This time it was a toe injury, suffered in Week 2. Burrow was eventually diagnosed with turf toe that involved torn ligaments. Burrow was placed on injured reserve and did not return until Week 13. The Bengals were already on the outside looking in for the playoff picture when he came back. A pair of losses in his first three starts back under center shut the door on Cincinnati’s postseason hopes. Burrow could have taken the rest of the season off, but he stayed out there and blitzed opposing defenses, averaging 270 yards and 2.5 touchdowns per game in his final six appearances. Talent has never been the issue for Burrow, but his inability to stay healthy has prevented the Bengals from being yearly Super Bowl contenders. Burrow showed at the end of the year that another top-five fantasy season was on tap had he stayed healthy. For fantasy managers who can stomach the injury risk, Burrow is locked in as a top-end QB1 for 2026.

Taylor said that Burrow gives them the best chance to win, which is both true and not really the point anymore given the Bengals were officially eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago. Burrow is wrapping up his second season in the last three years in which he appeared in 10 games or less due to injury. A significant injury against the Browns in Week 18 would be absolutely devastating for the Bengals and Burrow, who carries a nearly $48 million cap hit in 2026. Maybe Taylor comes to his senses before game-time or he lets Joe Flacco at least play the second half, but he’s remained consistent in recent weeks about Burrow playing.

We can’t write “in the Bengals’ Week 17 win over the Cardinals” because there was actually 12:06 remaining when Burrow took a seat with the Bengals leading 37-7. Doing whatever he wanted against one of the league’s worst defenses — including finding Ja’Marr Chase for a pair of touchdowns, his first since October 16 — Burrow’s two scores brought him to 154 for his career, tying him with Carson Palmer for fourth in Bengals franchise history. Burrow could have had a 4-5 score day, but the Bengals kept advancing inside the Cardinals’ five-yard line then punching it on the ground. Healthy and dealing, Burrow should be out there to put the finishing touches on his 2025 box scores against the Browns in Week 18.

Looking to bounce back from one of the most painful performances of the first week of the fantasy playoffs, Burrow took advantage of a soft defensive matchup and turnover-prone Dolphins offense to post his second four-score effort in three weeks. Having Tee Higgins this time around certainly helped, as the Bengals’ No. 2 wideout added 3/53/1 to Ja’Marr Chase’s 9/103/0 output. Navigating clean pockets and hitting whomever was open — Chase Brown and Mike Gesicki combined for three receiving scores — Burrow was back in control heading into a Week 17 smash spot with the Cardinals. If you somehow survived last Sunday, Burrow is looking like a potentially important part of title efforts.

Burrow is up to two full sessions this week. He is good to go for his team’s Week 16 game against the Dolphins, though his receiving corps could be short-staffed, with WR Tee Higgins still in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Burrow is a low-end QB1.

Reporters questioned Burrow about his future with the team. He offered multiple answers of varying length. While addressing a question about lessons learned by watching Peyton Manning and Tom Brady switch teams, Burrow compared those situations to the Packers trading away Micah Parsons earlier this year, saying, “crazy things happen.” As things currently stand, we expect Burrow to remain a Bengal next season. If the organization continues to struggle, Burrow’s displeasure will ostensibly grow. It’s anyone’s guess as to how things go in that scenario, though he is under contract through 2029.

When asked why Burrow will remain the starter, Taylor, whose Bengals sit at 4-10, said, “Because we want to win.” Big if true. Burrow didn’t look too interested in winning during parts of Sunday’s shutout loss at home to the Ravens, but fantasy managers hoping the Bengals show some fight for at least two more weeks will be happy to hear this news. Burrow and the Bengals draw the Dolphins in Week 16.

Burrow and the Bengals’ offense showed little fight in a must-win game and are now eliminated from playoff contention. Burrow lost 15 yards on a sack on the Bengals’ opening drive to knock them out of field goal range, only to throw an interception on his next drive. On the Bengals’ best offensive drive of the day, Burrow drove the team 80 yards on 15 plays only to toss an easy pick to Kyle Van Noy while facing pressure, which was handed off to safety Alohi Gilman and returned for an 85-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach. It was about as bad a day as Burrow and the Bengals could have had, as they will now look to play out the final three games of their season before calling it a year. Burrow will be a fringe QB1 in Week 16 when the Bengals travel to Miami to play the Dolphins.

Burrow also threw two crucial interceptions here, but it’s hard to say he was anything other than tremendous in this one. The first interception was a remarkable play by cornerback Christian Benford, who made a leaping interception behind the line of scrimmage and ran it back for a touchdown. The second pick was a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage. Apart from that, Burrow dissected the Bills defense and made several big throws to Tee Higgins and Mike Gesicki. He looks perfectly healthy and should be in for another huge game against the Ravens next week.