After a few months of rumors that the Bengals could trade the number one pick in this year’s draft to the Miami Dolphins, everything turned out to be a smokescreen at best. The team selected Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow out of Louisiana State University with the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The Athens, Ohio native gets to play in his home state and will have an opportunity to change the fortunes of a franchise that has been plagued with heartbreak over the years. However, before Burrow can lead the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl, he must overcome three obstacles that may hinder his growth with the organization.
1. Overcome Bad Ownership
A franchise quarterback is at his absolute best when he has full support from team ownership. Burrow must come in and take full command of the Bengals football team. He must show team owner Mike Brown that he is confident in becoming the leader of the Bengals franchise.
When a young quarterback believes in his ability to carry a team on his back, ownership tends to stay out of football affairs. However, Mike Brown holds the title of general manager and owner of the Bengals. The first two years of Burrow’s time in Cincinnati will be crucial to how Brown will conduct operations with the team going forward.
2. Overcome the Bengals Loosing Culture
Under previous head coach Marvin Lewis, the Bengals qualified for the postseason on several different occasions. However, that’s where it stops because they never advanced past the wildcard round of the playoffs. They have had the personnel capable of making a deep run once the playoffs started, but their potential never materialized under Marvin Lewis in big moments.
Burrow must demonstrate that he can show up in big games and have moments similar to what he had while playing for the LSU Tigers. Once that he has established himself as a clutch performer, other teammates will take notice and have confidence in what he brings to the table.
3. Elevate the Bengals to Perform on the Same Level as the Other teams Within the Division
The Bengals have not won the AFC North nor qualified for the playoffs since the 2015 season. The division has always had at least two football teams that became the class of the division. Those two ball clubs are the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The arms race within the division got even tighter, with Cleveland Browns slowly trending upward due to their recent transactions.
The Bengals front office must now make sound decisions when it comes to free agency and the draft. Burrow will only be useful as the talent that he is surrounded by going forward. An area where they can go in the next rounds of the draft is the offensive line. The quicker they address these matters, the faster the Bengals shall return to relevancy in the AFC North. These are the three obstacles that Joe Burrow must overcome playing with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated.
Facebook Comments