LSU Football: Is Joe Burrow a lock at No. 1 to Cincinnati Bengals?

After what could be called the best season in college history, LSU football’s Joe Burrow shined. Where will he end up when it’s all done?

Joe Burrow’s 2018 season wasn’t all that impressive in the grand scheme of things, it was good enough, but it didn’t amount to what he aspired to, so he came back for another round and boy did he deliver. Led by Burrow, the LSU Tigers put together an incredibly strong season, going undefeated and winning a national championship.

He finished the season with 5,671 passing yards and a 76 percent completion rate, up from 2,895 and 58 percent, respectively, just a year prior. He added 368 rushing yards to those totals this year as well. Those are big-time improvements over just one season.

Now he prepares for the NFL draft and we begin to talk about his strengths and weaknesses as teams decide who to pick and where.

Strengths

Many draft sites have compared Burrow to Tony Romo, especially in terms of his elite football intelligence. He has extreme confidence within the pocket and is great at giving his targets time to get open by extending plays and reading the entire field. He has clean mechanics and footwork and has unprecedented leadership abilities that allowed LSU’s offense to soar to new heights that hadn’t been seen in quite a long time.

Weaknesses

Burrow is an older rookie at the age of 24, but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern as he is polished and consistent as he faces elite competition throughout the season at least in 2019, including Alabama and Florida year in and year out.

However, the biggest concern is that he had polar opposite seasons in 2018 and 2019. Was 2019 an improved version of Burrow and is that what we can expect from now on or is it an outlier when 2018 is really what we have to expect? He doesn’t have the elite arm strength or throwing power of some quarterbacks in the NFL, but what he does is more than passable.

Draft Expectations

As an overall impressive package, Burrow seems to be a shoo-in for a high pick in the first round. He may even be the first quarterback off the board, though that could also be Tua Tagovailoa. Many have Burrow as the top overall pick though and Tagovailoa going to the Dolphins at No. 5. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out come draft day.

Projection: No. 1 overall to Bengals