Exhale, Bengals fans. There won’t be an Eli Manning situation at the top of this year’s draft.
Jimmy Burrow, whose son Joe is likely to be the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, said his son has no qualms about being drafted by Cincinnati if that’s how it works out.
(Narrator voice: That’s how it’s going to work out.)
“He’s excited to even be in that conversation and if the Bengals do draft him, he’s going to be happy,” Jimmy Burrow told Montreal’s TSN 690 radio, via Ben Baby of ESPN.com.
In 2004, Manning didn’t feel like playing for the Chargers, and threatened to not play at all if they took him first overall. They eventually did take him, but quickly traded him to the Giants.
The younger Burrow apparently won’t be issuing any such ultimatums this year.
He grew up in Athens, Ohio, and spent three years at Ohio State before transferring to LSU and turning in one of the most brilliant seasons in college football history.
“He’ll look at it as a challenge,” Jimmy Burrow said. “But he’ll be confident that eventually, they can win a lot of games there in Cincinnati.”
The Bengals coaches have already started raving about Burrow, and it feels like we’re all going to get one right in our mock drafts this year, even if we fill it out now.