Joe Burrow singing different tune about Bengals after trade for Dexter Lawrence II

Quarterback Joe Burrow raised eyebrows and made pockets of Cincinnati Bengals fans quite nervous when he mentioned this past December that he needed "to have fun [playing] again." 

The Bengals seemingly responded to Burrow's comment by making numerous moves to bolster their defense, the biggest of which was acquiring defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II from the New York Giants ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. During a recent chat with Nick Remsen of Vanity Fair, Burrow sounded much happier than he did ahead of Christmas 2025. 

Joe Burrow "really excited" about the Bengals' offseason

"I’m really excited about the moves we made this offseason," Burrow explained. "We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football." 

As Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk pointed out, the Bengals have also added safety Bryan Cook, safety Kyle Dugger, edge-rusher Boye Mafe and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to the roster since the AFC North club missed the playoffs for a third straight year.

"We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve," Burrow said about the team's offseason activities. 

Joe Burrow understands the real work hasn't yet begun

Since the start of 2026, multiple reports have hinted that Burrow could at least consider asking for a trade next offseason if he is dissatisfied with the state of the Bengals at that time. He signed a five-year, $275M contract extension in September 2023, and he insisted in February that he is happy in Cincinnati even though he has experienced some "bad" days during the club's playoff drought. 

Most recently, Burrow suffered a serious toe injury in Week 2 of the 2025 season that kept him sidelined until Week 13. 

"This is fun," Burrow said while preparing to attend the 2026 Met Gala on Monday. "But soon, it’s going to be our job to go out on the field and execute." 

As long as Burrow stays healthy, he and his teammates could potentially have plenty of fun from this coming September through February 2027.