Latest On Joe Burrow’s Future With Bengals

Bengals QB Joe Burrow raised some eyebrows around the league this past week with some comments at a mid-week press conference when he was in a particularly glum mood. 

“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing this,” Burrow said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “I have been through a lot. If it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for? That is the mindset I am trying to bring to the table.”

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, that set off waves of speculation from his sources with other teams about the possibility of Burrow requesting a trade or even retiring. 

“I thought the most intriguing comments I heard from anybody were Joe Burrow on Wednesday in Cincinnati, talking about the fun he’s having or not having and his future there basically. I could tell you this: other teams in the league took notice of that. I could tell you that for a fact, I know that because I was texting with some of them,” Schefter said on his podcast.

“Andrew Luck, when he retired, had played 86 NFL games and been sacked 174 times. 86 games, 174 sacks. Joe Burrow has played 13 fewer games, 73, and been sacked 203 times. So he’s played 13 fewer games and been sacked 29 more times than Andrew Luck was. And he sounded like a guy on Wednesday who was deeply reflective, contemplative, and thoughtful about how he wanted his future to proceed. Those were alarming words.”

The Bengals have a history with franchise quarterbacks reaching a breaking point with an organization that can be stubborn and old-school, with former No. 1 pick Carson Palmer requesting a trade as a part of a messy breakup in 2011. Burrow has also wielded a fair amount of influence over personnel in his time in Cincinnati. 

However, the Athletic’s Dianna Russini says Burrow hasn’t requested a trade or hinted at stepping away — and points out that as far as the speculation from other teams goes, 90 percent of other coaches in the league would trade their current starter for Burrow. 

Russini allows that certain parts of the Bengals’ operation have frustrated Burrow before, per people close to him, but his comments this past week were out of frustration from the loss to the Bills that all but eliminated Cincinnati from the playoffs. 

“He’s a serial killer,” one person told Russini. “Nothing matters to him but playing this game and winning a Super Bowl.”

CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones adds there’s no sense of concern that he can discern coming from the Bengals. 

“Blown out [of proportion],” a source told Jones. “Crazy.

“He was emotional on his birthday and pissed that for as much as he’s worked, he’s still not able to win. That’s all he wants to do. … If he cannot win he’s miserable.”

Burrow, 28, was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 by the Bengals out of LSU. He signed a four-year, $36,190,137 rookie contract that includes a $23,880,100 signing bonus.

Burrow was set to earn a base salary of $1,010,000 in 2023. The Bengals already picked up his fifth-year option for the 2024 season when they signed him to a record five-year, $275 million extension. 

In 2025, Burrow has appeared in four games and completed 59.3 percent of his pass attempts for 734 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

We’ll have more on the Bengals and Burrow as the news is available.