Bengals don’t want a Mahomes — they want Joe Burrow at his best

The Cincinnati Bengals would be so lucky to pay out a contract to a quarterback like the one given to Patrick Mahomes.

But don’t get it misunderstood — the Bengals want Joe Burrow to be Joe Burrow.

Some recent comments by Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as he shot down comparisons to players like Patrick Mahomes say that plainly enough, as captured Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

BC: We’ll find out who he is. At the end of the day it sounds kind of Coachish, but if we can get the best version of him, that’s all that matters. I want guys to look at us and go, ‘Man, I want Joe Burrow, that’s what I want.’ That’s why I don’t like to compare them. All these players are so different. It’s our job to find things he does well enough, show case that and it’s the job of the guys around to help him by doing what they do best. I want Joe Burrow to be himself. Do what he does best and be himself authentically as a person and I think you’ll get all that from him.

Those comments stemmed from Callahan talking about how Bengals coaches have worked hard this offseason to implement some of Burrow’s favorite plays from LSU, as well as studying some of the league’s best offenses.

But in the grander scheme of things, if the Bengals end up paying Burrow like the Chiefs did Mahomes, it means the coaches did well in their pursuit of maximizing his skill set and he led the team to the playoffs — and deep contention multiple times.

Burrow is going to be Burrow, even if the quarterback contract talk centers on Mahomes right now. And Bengals coaches spent the offseason doing everything they can to make sure Burrow’s ready to excel from his first snap of live action as the new era begins.