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The Cincinnati Bengals advanced to the 2022 AFC title game largely because of the roster built around quarterback Joe Burrow.
And on the Sunday of that AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport revealed a stunner: The Miami Dolphins would have offered all three of their 2020 first-round picks for the No. 1 selection that was going to be Burrow.
The report:
“What would the price have been? Sources say Miami was willing to trade all three first-round picks it had in 2020 — including the No. 5 overall pick that wound up being Tua Tagovailoa — and potentially more. There was not a consensus on what it would take, just that Miami wanted to try. The Bengals made sure it wasn’t a thing.”
Rapoport says the Bengals quickly hung up the phone after a brief exchange.
No wonder.
Cincinnati always had eyes on the kid from Athens, Ohio and the national championship winner at LSU who resembled the type of locker room and culture they wanted to build, never mind the elite traits on the field itself.
After missing on Burrow, the Dolphins fell back on Tua Tagovailoa, won 10 games, then nine, before parting ways with head coach Brian Flores.
The Bengals, meanwhile, overcame Burrow’s season-ending knee injury as a rookie to win 10 games this season, plus the first playoff victory in 31 years before playing in the conference title game.
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