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There have been 38 quarterbacks since 2021 with at least 750 attempts.
If Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson are Joe Burrow’s closest competition or peers in the NFL due to age and public opinion, we should compare where Burrow ranks among the 38 qualifying QBs to where those other three rank.
Notably, Burrow is the only one who ranks top 10 in expected points added, success rate, and yards per attempt.
- Burrow is #10 in EPA, #7 in success rate, and #5 in Y/A.
- Mahomes is #4 in EPA, #2 in success rate…but #16 in Y/A.
- Allen is #5 in EPA, #5 in success rate…but #14 in Y/A.
- Jackson is #9 in EPA, #3 in Y/A…but #11 in success rate.
Burrow is the only one who ranks top 10 in accuracy (#2 in the NFL).
Burrow is also the only one who ranks top 10 in completion rate (#1 in the NFL).
Additionally, Burrow has the fewest hacks of any of those other three quarterbacks.
He stands in shotgun on 92% of attempts (#3 highest rate), uses play action just 18.9% of the time (#35 of 38 QBs), and gets pre snap motion ahead of just 36.9% of dropbacks (#30 of 38 QBs).
Among those four quarterbacks, Burrow has the highest shotgun rate, the lowest play action rate, and the lowest motion rate.
The passing attack is entirely reliant on Burrow just figuring it out without disguise, whereas the other quarterbacks have lots of disguise built into the offense.
Want to talk team support?
Let’s talk run game and then defense.
Burrow has had one of the worst run games in the NFL.
Since 2021, the rushing attacks for those four quarterbacks rank:
- #30 in success rate, #31 in YPC, #17 in EPA
- #2 in success rate, #4 in YPC, #2 in EPA
- #3 in success rate, #1 in YPC, #3 in EPA
- #6 in success rate, #13 in YPC, #4 in EPA
Which one do you think is the Bengals?
They are first, followed by the Bills, Ravens, and Chiefs, in that order.
It’s amazing how similar those other teams are to one another, and it’s amazing how terrible the Bengals are in comparison.
If you want to look only at running back runs, the other three teams rank top 11 in both success and EPA. The Bengals are #26 and #20.
Now let’s talk defense for a moment.
- #30 in yards/play, #28 in success rate
- #1 in yards/play, #3 in success rate
- #5 in yards/play, #11 in success rate
- #7 in yards/play, #16 in success rate
The order? Bengals, Ravens, Bills, and Chiefs
What Burrow is being asked to do with such little support around him is unlike anything those other franchise AFC quarterbacks, his peers, are being asked to do.
But wait! It gets worse.
Let’s look at Cincy’s offensive line ranking in pass block win rate by year:
- 2021: #30
- 2022: #30
- 2023: #27
- 2024: #32
No other offensive line comes close to being this putrid.
The Bengals are the only offensive line to rank #25 or worse for four straight years.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
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