Few things are stronger — in sports or otherwise — than an “us against the world” mentality.
Cincinnati Bengals fans developed that quickly this offseason when speculation that Joe Burrow didn’t want to play for the team started up.
Burrow ended it Tuesday, even saying he wants to play with A.J. Green.
And in doing so, Burrow only endeared himself to Bengals fans more. In explaining himself, the Heisman Trophy-winner merely revealed he was taking a humble approach out of respect for the process and that outside elements ran with it.
“The only thing I’ve said is that I just didn’t want to be presumptuous about the pick,” Burrow said, according to Bengals.com. “That’s why I’ve been non-committal because I don’t know what’s going to happen. They might not pick me. They might fall in love with someone else. You guys kind of took that narrative and ran with it. There has never been anything like that from my end.”
Burrow also explained to the media that the “leverage” comment — as we broke down in-depth here — was never about leverage over the Bengals. He was referring to leverage over the draft process itself.
It’s a rather sorry state of affairs when a draft prospect has to take the podium and shoot down random fabricated stories by a 24/7 media cycle with nothing else to talk about.
But the good news? Bengals fans endured the storm with the hope Burrow was approaching things just like this. He was, he’s excited to be the first pick and come home with the goal being to revive the franchise.
For Bengals fans, rallying around Burrow after all this is quite a strong way to usher in a new era.
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