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The Joe Burrow-Cincinnati Bengals speculation took a turn early this week after the Heisman Trophy-winner went to Forth Worth to receive the Davey O’Brien Award.

There, Burrow told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Drew Davison he has leverage and a process of his own to undertake.

“I do have leverage,” Burrow said. “[The Bengals] have their process and I have my process. We haven’t even gotten to the Combine yet. There’s a lot of things to happen. Right now, I’m focused on being the best football player I can be.”

Understandably, the quotes have taken off and spiraled out of control. Let’s dig deeper.

 

What’s this process?

The draft process. Burrow is just getting started with it after understandably taking a pass on the Senior Bowl. He found an agency. He’s training now with Jordan Palmer (notice that last name –more on that in a second) as he preps for the combine. He’ll meet with the Bengals and other teams there.

Cincinnati indeed has a process of its own. It’s finalizing any remaining grades as we speak and gearing up for the combine. Bengals brass stressed due diligence and are reportedly considering just four prospects at No. 1 — Burrow is one of them.

The process is just the process.

 

Who has leverage?

Everyone.

Burrow has leverage. If he for some reason doesn’t want to play for the team located about 2.5 miles away from where he grew up and where his family resides, he doesn’t technically have to sign with the team under the rules of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Under those rules, if things got really silly, Burrow could sit out the entire year and enter the draft again.

But…

If there is only one team in the NFL that’s going to laugh in the face of a prospect saying he won’t play for them, it’s probably the same Bengals organization that called their franchise quarterback’s bluff, let him sit out retired, then shipped him to an Oakland Raiders team that hadn’t squeaked above .500 in about a decade — and only in return for a haul only Hue Jackson could dream up offering.

If — and it’s a big if — Burrow doesn’t want to play in Cincinnati, he’d be risking sitting out an entire year and not playing, then entering a draft headlined by Trevor Lawrence. More likely, the Bengals would end up making a historic trade out of No. 1, but observers get the point.

 

A note about leverage…

…the actual quote about leverage is interesting. It’s small and doesn’t appear to be on video anywhere.

And under that quote, Davison captures this comment from Burrow:

“I’m in this unique spot. You can go watch my film. I don’t have to prove myself at pro day and at the combine. I’m in a unique spot where I can really focus on getting ready for the season.”

Is this all being blown out of proportion? That’s draft season. Burrow could just as easily be laying the groundwork for not doing much throwing at the combine, knowing the silly blowback that would follow. He doesn’t have anything to prove on the field. That’s also some leverage he boasts.

Just something to consider.

 

What else has been said?

Burrow’s father has shot down the idea he doesn’t want to play for the Bengals. Burrow’s mother said the same thing again Monday.

Also on Monday? A quote that is somehow getting lost in the shuffle:

“It’s an interesting [thought], going back home to Ohio,” Burrow told KTCK-AM (h/t ESPN’s Ben Baby). “It would be a lot of fun. It would.”

These, of course, are the sort of quotes that don’t blow up nationally because there isn’t a big latching point for speculation. The fact Burrow hasn’t come out and said he’d love to play for the Bengals is what’s holding this topic above water right now — and even if he said just that, folks would probably read too much into it anyway.

And on the Palmer note, Burrow is indeed training with Jordan Palmer, brother to Carson. The former No. 1 overall pick by the Bengals took a ton of heat recently for suggesting while he was with the team he didn’t feel the Bengals were trying to win a Super Bowl — but he also praised the job director of player personnel (read: general manager) Duke Tobin has done since. Meaning, the subject might come up, but Carson’s been pretty honest he knows his view of the franchise might be outdated.

 

Bottom line

Burrow’s answering questions in February and he’s in a no-win situation no matter how he answers them. He’s also probably being advised to answer them in this manner — for now. Baker Mayfield, for example, didn’t proclaim himself savior of the Browns until the combine.

In the end, there’s one other group with leverage — fans exhausted from this saga already. It’s a whole lot of noise fanbases with the No. 1 pick usually face and is usually just that — noise.

If the Bengals take Burrow, he’s playing there. Until more emerges during the combine process, the speculation won’t equate to much.

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