Joe Burrow is headed home. The Athens, Ohio native who turned into a phenomenon during his record-setting senior season at LSU en route to a Heisman Trophy and a national championship was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday evening, a long-presumed move that finally came to fruition.
The pick is hardly a surprise. Ever since the Bengals got the No. 1 selection, Burrow was viewed as the favorite, and according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, any final remaining bits of doubt went out the window on Wednesday, when Bengals owner Mike Brown sent a letter to Burrow welcoming him to the organization.
Bengals president Mike Brown officially welcomed LSU QB Joe Burrow to Cincinnati on Wednesday, one day before the Draft. Brown sent Burrow a letter that said, amongst other things, that he looks forward “to building championship football teams with you for many years to come.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 23, 2020
Brown also made it official that Burrow will wear No. 9, the same number he wore in Baton Rouge.
Mike Brown also sent Joe Burrow and his parents No. 9 Bengals jerseys – jerseys for all of them — which now officially will be the number that he will wear in Cincinnati. https://t.co/l0BDOnJJnx
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 23, 2020
Burrow spent the first three years of his collegiate career at Ohio State before opting to transfer to LSU. He put up pedestrian numbers during his first year with the Tigers, then had the greatest individual season any quarterback has had in the sport’s history. As a redshirt senior, Burrow became a program icon, completing 76.3 percent of his passes for 5,671 yards with 60 touchdowns and six interceptions. With him at the helm, LSU ran the table, capping things off with a pair of dominant victories in the College Football Playoff: a 63-28 thrashing of Oklahoma and a 42-25 win over Clemson in the title game.
Now, he heads to a Bengals team with some skill position talent on offense. The AFC North is a competitive division, but thanks to Burrow, Cincinnati has a potential face of the franchise for at least the next decade.
