“You’re Looking at a Defense That Hasn’t Improved”: Ryan Clark Believes the Bengals Are Wasting Joe Burrow’s Prime

Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow suited up for his second preseason game on Monday, which wasn’t too surprising given the team is experimenting with new faces on the offensive line after last year’s struggles. What did catch people off guard was how long he stayed in, especially Troy Aikman, who was on the call.

At the end of the first quarter, Aikman thought Burrow was done for the night: “Well, [backup] Jake Browning, he comes in now… He takes over. Oh, excuse me. No Burrow, he’s back in. I thought I saw that Browning’s back in. But Burrow, they’re gonna give him another shot.”

Honestly, we were all a little confused during that moment in the game. Burrow even took a few pretty rough hits, the kind you don’t want to see in preseason, especially with his injury history. The Bengals can’t afford a 2023-type setback after already missing the playoffs two years in a row. Aikman summed the night up best during the broadcast, too, saying the Bengals have wasted some good years of their star QB.

“They’ve wasted some good years with Joe Burrow, especially last year when he played an MVP-type season,” Aikman said, as per ESPN’s Get Up. And former safety Ryan Clark agrees.

On the same show, Clark pointed out that the Bengals’ defense looked subpar once again. It’s only preseason, sure, but the team focused mainly on offensive signings this offseason. Their defense, meanwhile, looks unsettled with looming contract extensions, which could lead to another disappointing year.

In 2024, Burrow put up MVP-level numbers in game after game, but because of this struggling defense, the Bengals still missed the playoffs. And the club has done nothing to keep that from happening again.

“Last season, we’ve watched people run for more miles against the Cincinnati Bengals than David Goggins,” Clark started, leaving the entire panel chuckling.

“The Cincinnati Bengals are trying to capitalize on having one of the best quarterbacks of this generation, and what they did in the offseason was, they resigned Tee Higgins, resigned Ja’Marr Chase, but now, you’re looking at a defense that hasn’t improved… And not only has it not improved, you also haven’t signed your best player [in Trey Hendrickson] and one of the few impact players you had on that side of the ball.”

.@Realrclark25 is concerned the Bengals are “wasting this stage of Joe Burrow’s career” pic.twitter.com/fL3OCuiYg1

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 19, 2025

Clark then argued that the reason Burrow was playing in the second preseason game is that the quarterback knows how this same struggling defense will perform in the regular season. He’ll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting, score points, and carry the team to stay competitive. And in short, that’s how a quarterback’s potential gets wasted.