Joe Burrow impressing the Cincinnati Bengals isn’t exactly the biggest news.
Burrow’s done that from Day 1 since joining the team, to the point in June Bengals coaches had to ask him to slow down in meetings.
Fast forward to training camp, Burrow’s been moving along at such a good pace that the coaches haven’t seen any reason not to throw the entire playbook at him.
Here’s what offensive coordinator Brian Callahan had to say on the topic, per Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic:
“Everything we do is geared around volume he can handle, speed we can put it on him. So far l’d say he has not proven he needs any more time to study and learn than anyone else I’ve been around, so we have thrown it all at him.”
Zac Taylor talked along similar themes too, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“He’s obviously been in the playbook and understands what we are trying to do. Doesn’t mean it was perfect. We had balls that were on the ground, center-quarterback exchanges, handoffs. There were things to work out with any rookie at all the positions that we had … He just has a really good understanding of football.”
That Bengals playbook added some of Burrow’s favorite plays from his LSU days, a good sign not only for the quarterback himself, but also of the decision-making process of the coaching staff.
Of course, it’s all talk right now — the Bengals can’t don pads until August 17. But Burrow impressing now and getting the whole playbook thrown at him is much better than the opposite and it sounds like he’s more than ready for training camp contact.
Burrow had made it clear he spent his draft journey prepping to be the best rookie possible — that’s clearly paying off now.
