Bengals: Joe Burrow's biggest obstacle is one he can't overcome alone

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow doesn’t have many problems.

Beyond the injury history to date, actual quarterback problems with Burrow are limited. He’s overcome the silly pre-draft narrative about hand size and throwing power. And he’s tweaked his throwing motion in the past and practices plenty of off-platform and off-script throws to compensate for when pockets break down.

So when asked to identify the biggest obstacle in front of every NFL starting quarterback in 2025, Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon looked out at the greater surroundings of the league and came up with the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens:

“Burrow is at risk of his golden career coming in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has been consistently awesome and the supporting cast is solid. Now, he needs to simply overcome the competition.”

It’s certainly a fair point. Burrow has enjoyed successes against the Chiefs and Bills, with the Ravens being more of an in-division sour point.

But funnily enough, Burrow can’t overcome these listed obstacles on his lonesome. The Bengals will need a rebuilt defender under Al Golden to properly develop a young core of players while the returning offensive cast continues to provide proper support.

It would help, of course, if the front office would stop doing whatever it’s doing to cause contract drama with an All-Pro like Trey Hendrickson, plus a first-round rookie like Shemar Stewart.

It’s simple math in Cincinnati, really — if the offseason process that bet a few coaching changes will spur greater player development in key areas is correct, Burrow should get the team past these major teams and where they want to be.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals: Joe Burrow’s biggest obstacle is one he can’t overcome alone

Bengals: Joe Burrow’s biggest obstacle is one he can’t overcome alone

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