Teams are doing their homework for the virtual NFL Draft at the end of April and trying to figure out which players best suit their needs. While this is certainly a strong draft for defensive players, there’s plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball as well. If you’re in need of a wide receiver or offensive lineman, this is a draft rich in talent at both of those positions, but that’s not all.
Here are the five best offensive players in the 2020 NFL Draft.
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Mike Brown apparently is trying to make his best impression on Joe Burrow to make sure his future franchise quarterback is satisfied.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported on Monday that the Cincinnati Bengals owner met with Burrow at the NFL Scouting Combine. Rapoport says that is not unusual, but Brown’s aim was to address any concern Burrow may have had about playing for the Bengals.
“Brown wanted to be the one to address any concerns that Burrow may have had. He wanted to be the one to talk to the top prospect, lay everything out, and make sure Burrow had all the information to make whatever decision would be necessary,” Rapoport said.
Rapoport also noted that the Bengals then uncharacteristically spent money in free agency. They paid players like D.J. Reader, Trae Wayans, and Xavier Su’a-Filo.
There was some chatter in February that Burrow could pull an “Eli Manning” and refuse to play for the Bengals. But it seems like the two sides got on the same page. All in all, Burrow’s interview with the Bengals was said to have gone well.
Burrow is expected to become the No. 1 pick in the draft, which will be held April 23-25.
People rave about LSU quarterback Joe Burrow’s character, and we’re getting another example of that now.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most universities have canceled their pro days, depriving college hopefuls the chance to work out for NFL scouts. While this isn’t a big deal for the best prospects, there are some marginal players who might not get a look when they otherwise would have.
One LSU staffer shared with Bruce Feldman of The Athletic a story about Burrow looking out for those players.
Burrow definitely seems to grade highly on character. It’s no wonder his interviews with NFL teams got rave reviews, and this sort of attitude will serve him well when the Bengals inevitably make him the top pick in the NFL Draft.
There has been a small trend in recent years for top players to not attend the NFL Draft, but apparently that won’t be the case for Joe Burrow.
FOX 19 in Cincinnati’s Jeremy Rauch reported on Thursday that Burrow will be in Las Vegas for the draft.
Burrow is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft by the Bengals, so not having him there would be a big omission from the enjoyable show. The draft also being in a party city like Vegas is an easy way to entice players to attend, especially since some prefer to watch at home with their friends and family.
Las Vegas has big plans to put on a show for the draft, which includes taking players by boat to a stage set up in the Bellagio fountains.
Burrow won the Heisman Trophy last season and helped LSU win the national championship in January.
Joe Burrow is already having an impact on the Cincinnati Bengals’ offseason plans.
According to Peter King in his Football Morning in America column, Burrow made clear to Bengals executives that he wanted to see the team keep wide receiver A.J. Green. Burrow is likely to be the top pick in the NFL Draft, and will be tasked with leading the team as a franchise quarterback going forward.
Burrow clearly wants Green to be a part of that. It was reported Sunday that Green will receive the franchise tag unless he and the Bengals can reach a long-term deal.
The Bengals may well have done this anyway, so it may be overstating it to credit Burrow for this. It’s being done in spite of the fact that Green has missed 23 of the last 32 games with injuries, but Burrow knows what he wants. When healthy, Green is one of the sport’s top wide receivers. You can understand why Burrow would want that talent in the fold.
There have been some questions about whether or not Joe Burrow would be cool with going to the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL Draft, but things appear to be off to a good start.
Burrow met with the Bengals at the scouting combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The Bengals’ official team website wrote about the meeting and said in their article that one club official “said it was the best interview he had ever attended.”
Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan praised Burrow, saying that the former LSU quarterback’s mental side and preparation are two big strengths.
“Based on what I’ve seen and everything I’ve heard about (Burrow), it’s just their mental makeup. Very similar. They don’t put themselves in that position without being wired the right way. Their preparation habits. Peyton (Manning) was notoriously one of the best ever at preparation and (Matthew) Stafford quietly is right there with him,” Callahan told the site.
Callahan previously coached Manning and Stafford, who were both No. 1 overall picks, so this could be his third time working with a quarterback who was a top overall pick.
Some chatter last week indicated Burrow could make a power play if he wanted to avoid Cincinnati, but it sounds like all is going well between the parties. Burrow appears to be on his way towards going No. 1 to the Bengals.
The Washington Redskins drafted a quarterback in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft, but it appears they’re looking at the position again a year later.
The Redskins are meeting with Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa, the consensus top two quarterbacks in this year’s draft, at the NFL Combine. Coach Ron Rivera said the meetings are more than just “due diligence,” though he said he had no problem with Dwayne Haskins, last year’s first round pick.
Burrow will probably be off the board when Washington picks second overall, but Tagovailoa is likely to be there. It’s anyone’s guess how serious Washington actually is about considering a quarterback, but Rivera wants us to think that he’s serious.
The bet here is that Washington still goes with Chase Young — just as their current quarterback thinks they will.
Joe Burrow has some of the smallest hands of any quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft class, but he is not the least bit concerned about the football nerds who take those measurements seriously. Patrick Mahomes is someone who knows all about hand size becoming a topic of discussion, and the Super Bowl MVP had a great message for Burrow about it.
After his hands measured at “only” nine inches, Burrow joked in a tweet that he is contemplating retirement because he won’t be able to properly grip the football. Mahomes, whose hands measured at 9.25 inches when he was coming out of Texas Tech, chimed in with an awesome response.
Mahomes has arguably the strongest arm in the NFL, and his hand size wasn’t enough to stop him from winning a Super Bowl MVP and an NFL MVP. While Burrow’s hands may be unusually small for a 6-foot-4 quarterback, he threw for 5,671 yards, 60 touchdowns and only six interceptions while playing in one of the most competitive conferences in college football last year.
Hand size may matter, but you don’t ignore everything a player has accomplished just because he has smaller hands than some of his peers. The Bengals don’t care if Burrow has nine-inch hands, 12-inch hands, or 7-inch hands. They’re almost certainly going to draft Burrow, and Mahomes’ success is a nice reminder than hand size can mean absolutely nothing sometimes.
If the Cincinnati Bengals select Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, the former LSU star has no intention of trying to force his way to another team.
While speaking with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, Burrow said he would never refuse to play for a team that drafted him. That almost certainly means he will be a Bengal in two months.
Because the Bengals have been such a bad team for so many years, many have speculated that Burrow could pull an Eli Manning, who refused to play for the San Diego Chargers when he was drafted and forced his way to the New York Giants. A recent comment Burrow made about having leverage heading into the draft created a stir, but he likely is just trying to avoid sounding like it is a certainly that he will be taken No. 1. Burrow said Tuesday that the idea of him possibly avoiding Cincinnati is a media fabrication.
Members of Burrow’s camp have reportedly been annoyed over the talk that the QB could pull an Eli, and there’s no reason to think it is going to happen. It probably helps that Burrow is from Ohio, so playing for the Bengals would give him a chance to rescue a tortured franchise and play pro football in his home state.
The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine began on Monday, and Joe Burrow is already getting a feel for some of the unexpected concerns that can pop up for players who take part in the event. Fortunately, the Heisman Trophy winner seems like he is going to be able to take the criticism in stride.
One of the measurements evaluators take for quarterback prospects is hand size, and Burrow’s hands measure at just nine inches. That is considered very small for an NFL quarterback, especially one who is 6-foot-4. For comparison, Kyler Murray — who is 5-foot-10 — has 9.5-inch hands.
Naturally, Twitter began buzzing about Burrow’s “tiny hands.” That led to a hilarious response from the quarterback, who said he is considering retirement since the ball might slip out of his hands so easily.
Burrow’s hands are significantly smaller than the other top quarterbacks in the 2020 QB class.
Patrick Mahomes, whose hands were also considered “small” at 9.25 inches, offered some words of encouragement for Burrow during this difficult time.
Burrow is an extremely confident guy, so it’s no surprise he’s mocking those who say his hand size is a concern. No one seemed worried about it when he was lighting the college football world on fire last season, and it is not going to have any impact on the Cincinnati Bengals wanting to take him with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
If you saw what Burrow said about Alabama recruiting him as a third-string quarterback, you probably had an idea of how he might react to his hand size becoming a topic of discussion.
