//Matthew Bernstein//

Joe Burrow is this year’s top NFL draft prospect. Burrow began his college career at Ohio State University where he was a backup quarterback for his freshman and sophomore year. His junior year he transferred to Louisiana State University, where he beat out the true sophomore quarterback Myles Brennan for the starting gig. Now a graduated quarterback from LSU, he won the Heisman Trophy and threw for 60 touchdowns in his senior year. After leading the Tigers to a national championship and winning, Burrow has had one of the most impressive college seasons for a quarterback ever and is expected to go number one overall in this year’s draft.

Burrow grew up in Ohio. “It’s an interesting [thought], going back home to Ohio,” Burrow told KTCK-AM. “It would be a lot of fun. It would.” It could be really cool to see Burrow return to where he grew up and get to play in front of his family and home crowd and be successful. Although there is a lot of talk about this, it may not be reality.

There is a lot of speculation about Burrow being drafted by the Bengals in the 2020 draft. Although the keyword in that sentence is speculation, you never know what’s going to happen until it does. Many teams, such as the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears, have reportedly been talking about trading up to the number one pick in order to draft Burrow. Although it’s unlikely that the Bengals trade the number one pick, anything is possible up until the pick is officially made.

Joe Burrow also has a say in what his future beholds and has the ability to control his faith.

“I do have leverage,” Burrow said to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “They have their process and I have my process. We haven’t even gotten to the Combine yet. There’s a lot of things that happen leading up to the draft and a lot of information gathered.” In 2004, Eli Manning was drafted first overall by the San Diego Chargers and 45 minutes later was traded for the number four overall pick Phillip Rivers. Prior to the 2004 draft, Manning said he didn’t want to play for the Chargers and that’s what set up this historic trade. Burrow said he understands that he has the same opportunity as Eli did, but he needs to consider all of his options before doing anything.

There are many different twists and turns that this draft could take and whatever happens will surely change the NFL forever. Joe Burrow has many choices to make in the next few months. So does the rest of the NFL. Burrow is going to need to decide what is best for his career moving forward and stick by whatever he decides. There are still many important events to happen between now and the draft, but the Bengals are on the clock, and everybody is waiting to see what they do.