The Cincinnati Bengals have taken a beating nationally while understandably finding themselves linked to Joe Burrow.
And yet, there are worse places for a prospect like Burrow to land.
The Bengals boast droves of prior quarterback experience among the coaching staff. Burrow would work with a wicked set of talent at the skill positions with A.J. Green, Tyler Boyd, John Ross, Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard, provided everyone returns. And while there hasn’t been a win, this is a team that has seven playoff appearances dating back to 2005 in a stout AFC North.
As for the quarterback specifically? Cincinnati has had just two franchise passers since about 2003. It smartly built around Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton on their rookie deals. It paid Palmer more than $84 million over eight seasons and Dalton more than $83 million and counting over nine.
Cincinnati is far from perfect — but it’s a better spot for Burrow than the following (oddly) propped-up locales.
Washington Redskins
The Bengals often take public beatings while Washington somehow gets a pass.
And while the Redskins don’t necessarily need a passer since they took Dwayne Haskins last year, the topic will come up since they hold the second pick.
Just keep in mind this is a franchise still blindly searching for its past glory. It has four playoff appearances dating back to 2000. It has 12 losing seasons and nine or so head coaches over that span. Attendance is terrible, the front office spends ill-advised money, its own players trash talk coaches, the culture was so bad a league-best left tackle refused to play for it and the team is so bad on the medical side it brought on outside help to try and figure out why it always has one of the most oft-injured rosters in the NFL.
Detroit Lions
Yes, Detroit has Matthew Stafford but no, that hasn’t stopped pre-draft speculation.
The owners of the third pick aren’t exactly a great fit for a Burrow-type though. Look how Stafford has been squandered, never mind past greats like Calvin Johnson.
These Lions have just three playoff appearances since 2000 and no wins since 1991. Fifteen losing seasons since 2001 and eight head coaches. The latest of the latter is yet another attempt on a Bill Belichick understudy with Matt Patricia, who managed to regress the team from six to three wins.
Miami Dolphins
When one of the biggest talking points around a locale is how nice the scenery of the area is, it’s probably not a great place for a quarterback.
Miami is so bad for quarterbacks is reached an apex over the last 10 years by having a running back take direct snaps to run the football.
Kidding (kind of) aside, the Dolphins have two playoff appearances since about 2002, a double-digit head coach count, including fun ones like Nick Saban and Adam Gase and have one winning season over the past decade.
Everything about the Dolphins right now centers on hope with Brian Flores and a massive rebuild.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers abandoned their fanbase and played at Dignity Health Sports Park, which seats 27,000. The team finished last in attendance, obviously, and Philip Rivers said home games felt like road games. Also, Rivers left.
While the Chargers are a little more encouraging than most teams here, the team just regressed from 12 wins to five and it has more losing seasons than winning seasons over the past five years.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers quietly have more playoff wins (eight) and Super Bowl appearances (two) dating back to 2000 than most might expect. But over that same span, they also have 12 losing seasons.
The Ron Rivera era was great for all, yet that’s out the window now in exchange for Matt Rhule, an unknown. Admittedly, the Panthers do boast Burrow’s mastermind from LSU, Joe Brady.
But a big talent exodus lately featuring names like Luke Kuechly, three losing seasons in four years and a big unknown with a new head coach doesn’t make for an ideal outlook.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Yes, this one has been out there in the wild a bit too.
Jacksonville, owner of three playoff wins dating back to 2000, has now worked through five head coaches over that span and has just four winning seasons compared to 14 losing seasons.
The Jaguars thought it a good idea to pay up more than $90 million for Nick Foles, but have also gone all-in on names like Blake Bortles and Blaine Gabbert in recent years.
The Jaguars are a good example of the draft system not guaranteeing anything close to parity — they’ve selected 10 players in the top 10 since 2002.
Indianapolis Colts
Let’s go ahead and bring up the Colts since Jacoby Brissett could be on his way out.
The Colts have had plenty of success over the years, but that’s what happens when a team lands both Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
Speaking of Luck, the Colts mismanaged the roster so badly Luck decided to hang up the cleats at the age of 30. The line might be good now but the team didn’t properly build up front when it needed to, robbing fans there of a possible all-time great.
That’s not encouraging for an incoming rookie passer, and neither is four losing seasons over the last five years.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With the Jameis Winston era potentially over, the Buccaneers could indeed be on the hunt for a franchise passer — and Bruce Arians is a splendid coach.
Tampa Bay, though? A small market with dwindling attendance and a track record that has produced two playoff appearances since 2003 and 12 losing seasons over that span. Arians is now the fifth coach since the derailing of the Jon Gruden era.
The Buccaneers don’t spend well and have to overpay in free agency, drafts in a hit or miss manner (Vernon Hargreaves) and struggles to use its hits (O.J. Howard) while failing to build a quality offensive line for years. The quarterback history lists names like Jameis Winston, Mike Glennon and Josh Freeman, to name a few.
