So much for Cincinnati Bengals rookie Jermaine Burton not having an impact as a rookie.
Burton, facing scrutiny over reports that he had a rough summer, broke onto the field during Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and immediately put up a huge highlight.
The play was a simple deep bomb from Joe Burrow that Burton easily reeled in after beating the defense deep, good for 47 yards.
And even though he didn’t have a major bit of work on the official snap counts, Burton’s usage sure was unexpected after he worked with the fourth team and returned kicks during the preseason — while a report said he might face a redshirt year over playbook issues.
The highlight is nice, of course:
BURR🎯W.
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS/Paramount
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/mv3s2j8RmH— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
But this goes far beyond a highlight. Tee Higgins is out and Trenton Irwin was struggling with his heavy dose of snaps. Even Andrei Iosvias, for as impressive as his two touchdowns were, had a key drop.
If nothing else, Sunday was proof that Burton is going to be hard to keep off the field. Limited route tree and/or playbook mastery or not, his ability to stretch the field clearly has a big value.
So much so, it’s going to be hard for the team to justify keeping him off the field at a decent snap count even when Higgins comes back.
