Despite having missed the 2024 playoffs, Joe Burrow is still enjoying one of the best quarterback careers of any quarterback. After claiming the 2019 Heisman trophy award, Burrow’s LSU Tigers would go on to win the National Championship in January of 2020.
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From there, he’d be a first overall draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and just a few months later, he’d find himself competing in the Super Bowl. There’s been some ups and downs since then, but the Cincinnati Bengal has steadily produced some of the most electric passing performances in recent memory.
Thanks to several standout instances, such as his 525-passing yard performance against the Baltimore Ravens in 2021 and his 481-passing yard outing against the Atlanta Falcons in 2022, Burrow currently boasts the third highest passing yards per game average of any quarterback in NFL history.
Even though his career average of 275.4 is more than enough to beat out the likes of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Andrew Luck, it falls just short of rivaling two of the best signal callers of the modern era, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and the former New Orleans Saint, Drew Brees.
The 13-time Pro Bowler managed a career passing yards per game average of exactly 280, which was good for the highest of all time until Mahomes showed up. Since then, the pride and joy of Kansas City has steadily taken over both the all-time charts and the league itself.
Nevertheless, the coming seasons could present an opportunity for Burrow to eclipse both of them and take the title for himself. The Chiefs’ receiving core has been anything but consistent, and the aging status of Travis Kelce figures to weigh on Mahomes’ metrics at some point or another.
Meanwhile, the Bengals just spent a combined total of $276 million in contracts to ensure that Burrow has the best wide receiver tandem of any signal caller for the next four seasons in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Throw in the fact that Cincinnati’s defense is coming off of one of the worst regular season showings in the history of professional football, and it’s safe to say that the formula is there for Burrow to eventually claim the all-time record.
He has the weapons, he’ll often have game scripts in his favor, and he has already proven to be one of the best quarterbacks of today. Simply put, the only things that can prevent him reaching the title are injuries and himself.
Burrow likely needs to produce some high passing yard totals throughout the next several years if he wants to get past Mahomes in the playoffs, but claiming an all-time NFL title along the way should help to motivate him that much more as he attempts to guide the Bengals through this rebound season.
