Joe Burrow is teaching kids all around the world the old philosophy that there is so much more to being a terrific football player than what happens on the field. There are some players who have extraordinary talent but only care about their measurable contributions. The league is designed that way after all with big contracts based on statistics as well as performance incentives built in during negotiation. There are few players with the exceptional understanding that the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has shown this season.
Joe Burrow has Become a Full Mentor to Jake Browning
Cincinnati knew the moment they drafted Burrow with the first overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft that his intangibles and charisma were actually greater assets than his overall talent. This brings out the perfect expression that character is truly shown when one is up against it.
Well clearly Burrow is up against it this season as he went down in November with a season-ending wrist injury against his division rival Baltimore Ravens. A lot of quarterbacks basically decide to phone it in after dealing with such adversity. For example, future hall of fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers took several weeks to return to the sideline following the injury to his achilles tendon. Division rival quarterback Deshaun Watson still remains lounging in a press box during games following his own season-ending injury.
Not Burrow though. Burrow remains on the sideline every single play of the game and has become essentially another quarterbacks coach to backup Jake Browning. In the closing minutes of the Baltimore Ravens game and the following game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Browning struggled significantly to pick up the Cincinnati offense of his predecessor.
Burrow was still seen on the sideline helping Browning every single moment that Browning wasn’t on the field. Now I can tell you as a former player, when most players aren’t on the field, they’ll sit around sipping Gatorade and relaxing. The more alert ones will pay attention to the game and be ready to go in case of turnovers. Burrow is CONSTANTLY aware and consistently helping his young protégé.
That finally seemed to help Browning break through these past two weeks as he has crushed two above-average NFL defenses in the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Indianapolis Colts. Even after struggling intensely in the first two games he played in, Browning is currently second in the NFL in quarterback rating with a tremendous number of 110.9. Browning has responded remarkably well and commentators have even announced that he carries a certain swagger to Burrow.
True Leaders are Defined by Selfless Actions
This past week, Burrow really set the example and showed his teammates that he wasn’t going to be squander his record-setting contract. For the Sunday matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Burrow paid to have Browning’s family sit up in a private suite with Burrow’s family. It’s one of those double effect actions where obviously its incredibly kind action toward your replacement but it also merges the families and lets Burrow’s parents bond and connect with Browning’s family.
“Well first of all, it is not my box,” Browning said. “I did not buy that in the preseason — it’s very expensive. So, Joe Burrow was nice enough to give them some tickets so they didn’t have to sit up in the cold. We’re all from California, so I’m used to it, they’re not. I’m sure they were much more excited in the box. It’s awesome to have them here. I think it was two friends from back home, my girlfriend, and then my brother, my sister and my sister’s boyfriend. It’s always nice to have people there, and it’s mostly nice after you win to go grab dinner or something somewhere.”
These are the little things that set true leaders aside from the guys who just want to play the part. As the old expression goes “if you want to talk the talk then you have to walk the walk”. Burrow is doing just that and setting a tremendous example for his teammates.
Joe Burrow Puts in the Effort in the Film Room
On top of mentoring his young replacement at the quarterback position, Burrow also has made a point to attend defensive film sessions. I haven’t heard of any other quarterback at the professional level go into defensive film sessions especially when they aren’t even playing.
Burrow set the standard from this action last month that even though he wasn’t going to be the field with his guys, he was going to support them throughout the end of the season. Just another example of why Burrow really is as good as it gets in the leadership department.
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