Joe Burrow carted off the roster: Will the Cincinnati Bengals replace him?

Joe Burrow is a rookie sensation in the NFL who has brought his remarkable talent from LSU, where he won a national championship to the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite the Bengals record of 2 to 7 to 1, Burrow has been a highlight on the roster, giving hope to a franchise that’s been hopeless for a long time. 

Unfortunately, Burrow recently suffered a bad injury against the Washington Football Team which will keep him out for the rest of the year. The Cincinnati Bengals’ playoff hopes were essentially dead even before the injury, however, and now someone needs to step in for Burrow for the final games of the season. Here’s more information on Burrow’s injury and who’s stepping in for him. 

Burrow suffers nasty injury

In the second half of the game against Washington, Burrow suffered a hit knocking him out of the game. Viewers knew the blow was bad instantly as Burrow stayed on the ground, holding his left leg. Even Burrow knew the injury’s severity, tweeting shortly after, “Thanks for all the love. Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year.”

Results from an MRI showed Burrow suffered a torn ACL and MCL. Burrow will undergo reconstructive surgery, leaving the Cincinnati Bengals without their star quarterback for the rest of the 2020 season. 

Burrow is the number one overall pick of the 2020 draft and was putting up big numbers for the Cincinnati Bengals, despite their losing record. Burrow will finish the 2020 season with 2,688 passing yards, thirteen touchdowns, and five interceptions with a 65.3 completion percentage. According to ESPN, Burrow was on pace “to become the first rookie in league history to have six 300-yard passing games in his first ten appearances.”

Burrow’s injury wasn’t a complete surprise considering he wasn’t receiving great protection from his offensive line. Burrow was sacked a total of thirty-two times, the third most out of any QB in the NFL. His numbers are even more impressive, considering how he didn’t have much time behind his OL. Former Bengals QB faced similar problems last year as the team’s starter. 

Burrow’s backups

After Burrow was carted to the locker room, second-year QB Ryan Finley stepped in as his backup on the roster. He ended up going three for ten with thirty passing yards and an interception. The team’s OL problems continued as Finley was sacked four times by Washington. 

Finley struggled last year during his rookie season, starting in three games which were all losses. He threw for 474 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Finley did run for seventy-seven yards but didn’t end up doing enough to elevate his team to get wins. 

If Finley goes down or plays poorly, then the Cincinnati Bengals could resort to putting third-string QB Brandon Allen on the roster. Allen was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016 and has since been bouncing around the league by teams who need competent backup QBs. 

Allen finally started a game for the Denver Broncos in 2019 after QB Joe Flacco was injured. Allen only threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns but led the Broncos to a 24 to 19 win. 

However, in his three starts, he threw two interceptions and only completed forty-six percent of his passes. Allen & Finley haven’t proven yet they can do enough to provide the same production as Burrow, but maybe they can do enough to squeeze out a couple more wins. 

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Burrow’s injury is upsetting and NFL players & fans have flooded social media with well-wishes for the young star. Washington’s number one pick and the second overall pick of the draft, Chase Young, provided vocal support for Burrow, who Young played with at Ohio State before Burrow transferred to LSU. 

Burrow has shown tremendous potential and will hopefully bounce back better than ever in his return to the roster next season.