Former LSU QB, Joe Burrow, was the number one overall draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals.
QB Joe Burrow was the number one overall drafted player in the 2020 NFL Draft.
This was no surprise due to his phenomenal senior resume at LSU where he not only led his LSU Tigers to win the National championship game vs the Clemson Tigers with an undefeated season, but he won the Davey O'Brian award (best QB in College Football), the Offensive MVP in the 2019 championship game, the Manning Award, the SEC Offensive player of the year award, and the Heisman Trophy award last season.
Now the question remains how will Joe do in Fantasy Football this season?
In my opinion his success this season depends on three things.
1. His offensive line
2. The health of his playmakers
3. The Bengals changing their Offensive style
Well, we can almost already throw out the Bengals offensive line drastically improving this season. According to PFF.com, the Bengals ranked 30th out of the 32 teams in terms of having the best offensive line AFTER the 2019 regular season. Meaning they basically have done nothing to improve this area of their team. However, they do get their high graded O-line 1st round draft pick from 2019's draft, Jonah Williams back from injury and a veteran O-lineman, Xavier Su'a-Filo too which should help them. Overall, it's not nearly enough to make this area for them much better (unless they hire some great O-line coach or something idk).
Next, if his players are healthy and are willing to play (cough cough AJ Green), this could help Joe out immensely in terms of his stats. The Bengals have had problems with skill players dealing with injury with players like AJ Green as well as John Ross III (the NFL combines fastest player) over the past two seasons. This is because Green didn't even play last season due to a preseason injury and Ross III only played a total of 24 games in three seasons (or half his NFL career). Ross III has had some very impactful games in 2019 though which is why I am hopeful everything can go right for him this time. So if both Ross III and Green can stay healthy this could be a big impact on how Joe does this season.
Lastly, the Bengals should consider changing their offensive style to the spread offense. Not only was this the offense that helped Joe become the player he was last year in terms of awards, but it also helped his team win, and gave him astronomical stats in college (which is what we want for him Fantasy Football).
*on LSU in 2019, Burrow threw for 5,671 passing yards, 60 TDs, 6 INTs and had 115 rush attempts for 368 rush yards and 5 rushing TDs
To do this, the Bengals would need to make sure they have enough offensive weapons around him. The good news is it looks like the Bengals have done this ( this is due to the fact that they added the Clemson Tiger's star receiver, Tee Higgins, to the team with their first pick in the second round of the NFL draft Friday)! The reason I say this is because the spread offense requires teams to use WR sets of anywhere from 3 to 5 receivers at a time. With the main point of the spread offense to spread defenses vertically, with the receivers they have now with guys like AJ Green, Tyler Boyd, John Ross III, Auden Tate (had 40 rec, 575 receiving yards, & 1 TD in 2019) and now WR Tee Higgens they should easily give Joe a chance to make something good happen. Not to mention the fact that they potentially have a top 5 running back to work with (although at the moment he is being difficult). Anyways, by setting Joe up with plenty of receivers in this system the bengals can definitely let Burrow thrive.
So basically, if everything goes right and the O-line gives Joe some time to throw, if Mixon is in the backfield, if the Bengals change to the spread offense, and if all of his WR weapons are healthy and ready to play with him for the start of the season I can easily see Joe being a top 10 QB this season in Fantasy Football. More realistically though, it's likely nothing will go right for the Bengals. Nevertheless, I will give him the benefit of the doubt which is why I think Joe will finish as the number 15 QB in Fantasy Football in 2020.
Joe's 2020 stat predictions:
3,720 passing yards, 23 TDs, 10 INTs
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