Bengals News: Joe Burrow Needs 3,694 Yards to Overtake Carson Palmer’s Elite Record This Season

The 2025 regular season figures to be a historic one for Joe Burrow. Thanks to a league-leading effort in passing yards last year, the 28-year-old Bengals gunslinger now stands on the precipice of history in just his sixth year in the NFL.

In the 69 games that Burrow has competed in so far, the former LSU Tiger has managed to produce a career total of 19,001 passing yards. That’s the fifth most of any quarterback in the history of the Bengals franchise, and it places him well within striking range of the next record ahead of him.

Carson Palmer, a three-time Pro Bowler and fellow former first-round draft pick for the Bengals, slots just ahead of Burrow with his total of 22,694 passing yards. Palmer played in 97 games in Cincinnati in the first seven years of his career (2003-2010) before joining the then-Oakland Raiders in 2011. Burrow will need just 3,694 passing yards to eclipse Carson’s legacy.

The quarterback’s current career average is 275.4 passing yards per game. That puts him on pace to take Palmer’s spot in the rankings in Week 14 when the Bengals travel to Buffalo, New York, to take on Josh Allen’s Bills.

The contest itself is considered to be one of the more spectator-friendly games of the regular season. But now that the potential for history has been added to the mix, their clash appears to have all of the makings of must-see TV.

It will be at least another year before Burrow can climb higher in the rankings and reach Boomer Esiason. The forgotten legend managed to generate 27,149 passing yards in the 134 games he played as a Bengal in the 1980s and 1990s.

That’s 8,148 more passing yards than Burrow. So, unless the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner has any plans of shattering the all-time single-season record for quarterbacks, he still needs a bit more time before he can officially become one of the greatest quarterbacks in Cincinnati’s history.

For those who may be wondering, Ken Anderson currently holds the all-time franchise crown. He recorded 32,838 passing yards, easily the most in Bengals history. He managed to spend his whole career in Cincinnati, playing 192 regular-season games. He played in 123 more games than Burrow has so far, and is currently 13,837 passing yards ahead of him.

With a current career average of 4681.4 passing yards per season, Burrow projects to break Anderson’s record and become the all-time franchise leader for the Bengals in three years. So, even though Burrow may be heralded as one of the coolest cats in the NFL today, he’s not the king of the jungle just yet.