It’s not unreasonable to expect 2023 could be the best season yet from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
A number of factors go into this. A normal projectable developmental upwswing for a quarterback, what should be Burrow’s first normal pro summer and an improved offensive line yet again all play a small part.
It would appear Burrow thinks he’s on an upswing too, physically and otherwise.
“I’m feeling really good. I feel strong. I feel stable. I feel grounded,” Burrow said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’m excited about how my body is feeling.”
Keep in mind, physically, Burrow rehabbed the ACL injury and wasn’t 100 percent during one offseason, then was hospitalized with the burst appendix last summer. It would make sense his body’s finally firing on all cylinders before a camp.
There’s the mental aspect, too.
“I think I just became more aware of situational football,” Burrow said, per Hobson. “Aware of when I could take a sack, when I can’t, finding the (running) back when I can make a play in a certain moment when a different part of the game I would not try to make that play. I think I took strides there. I think there are more strides to take in that area.”
In a way, this has fallen to the background because of the hype around the possibility of a contract extension for Burrow soon. And he made it clear this week that the Bengals being able to pay names like Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase plays a factor in those talks.
But this is an important theme to keep in mind too — next season, on paper, has the potential to be the best Burrow yet for the Bengals.
