Just like he should, as the quarterback who rose to the very brink of Super Bowl glory, Joe Burrow is trying to figure out how to take the next step.
Meanwhile, there are six other NFL QBs who are trying to work out how to become this year’s … Joe Burrow.
Trevor Lawrence wants to be Burrow. So too, does Zach Wilson. Add Trey Lance to that group, and Justin Fields, Mac Jones and Davis Mills.
They might not want to wear that Sherpa heart coat or those oversized sunglasses, but they’d all dearly love to match the Year 2 elevation of Burrow, who became one of the most highly regarded passers in the league after losing much of his rookie campaign to injury.
Last season, Burrow’s spectacular surge to prominence lifted the Cincinnati Bengals to their first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years, showing what is possible even with a comparatively inexperienced signal-caller.
If one of the six starters from the 2021 draft class is to experience a similar breakthrough, where is it likeliest to come from?
Lawrence would be the favored pick of many. Having had much of his rookie campaign with the Jacksonville Jaguars disrupted by the departure of Urban Meyer as head coach, he has high hopes for greater productivity under the influence of Doug Pederson.
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“It was a long year for sure,” Lawrence said to FS1’s Colin Cowherd on “The Herd,” in reference to Jacksonville’s 3-14 record. “You get a different perspective, a greater appreciation for winning.
“The way coach Pederson carries himself, the way he treats people, the way he leads, we are similar in terms of personality. He doesn’t get too high or too low.”
Wilson has been in the news for some rather spicy reasons lately — type the New York Jets’ QB’s name and “best friend’s mom” into a search engine and have at it — but he also showed some positive signs towards the back end of his first year and, like Lawrence, got some help in the draft.
Lance has undoubted talent but hasn’t seen more than gimmick duty to date. The San Francisco 49ers are all-in on him now, though, even with Jimmy Garoppolo’s situation yet to be resolved.
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Fields looked brilliant at times and decidedly ordinary at others — caught up in the Chicago Bears’ customary inconsistency. It was a similar story for Jones, who briefly had the New England Patriots surging before a tail-off that ultimately led to a painful first-round postseason exit.
It was, you’ll remember, a much-lauded class. Mills came in under the radar and was taken 67th overall before assuming the Houston Texans job, but the other five were the talk of the draft. Lawrence was the standout name, but QBs were taken with each of the top three and five of the top 15 picks. Compare that to this year, when Kenny Pickett was the only thrower taken in Round 1.
A year in and these six are beginning to look like a hugely significant group. In some ways, they are providing testing data for future decisions. Teams swung big for QBs in the 2021 draft — the 49ers biggest of all — and if the QBs form a collective reputation of success or failure, it could dictate the willingness to follow a similar approach down the line.
Also, it is becoming very much a young QBs’ league, a fact which is borne out in numbers and reality but is obscured by the ongoing excellence of old timers like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
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As for Burrow, it is far from bluster to suggest his 2021 numbers (34 TDs and 14 interceptions) could be even better moving forward, especially with the Bengals having made serious upgrades to the offensive line.
There are plenty of tasks to be accomplished for a second-year guy. There is less wiggle room and less forgiveness. There is more expectation and, if we’re being honest, a much greater likelihood of being given up on and cut loose if things don’t pan out.
The sophomores want wins. Their teams want that too, and to see more development. The six will want to earn the trust of the fans and avoid any talk of being dismissed as a bust.
They’re chasing relevancy, in some cases chasing each other. And, with a blueprint already laid out before them, chasing Joe Burrow.
