If you're hating on Joe Burrow at this point, you're just a bored contrarian
Listen, man. It’s late-February. I’m in the content business, so I get the need to generate interesting discussion. It’s no secret that in this business, we have to dig a little deeper this time of year. We cannot rely on games to generate content for us.
I’ll be honest. If it’s mid-October, I’m probably not writing about why I think Bret Bielema has become the cans of tuna in the back of the pantry. That’s not saying I’m creating “clickbait” or that I’m just firing off opinions for the heck of it. I truly believe that comp for Bielema. But in mid-October, that column isn’t making the cut. That’s because there are too many other more pressing midseason issues that need to be addressed.
But no, a slow news cycle is no reason to generate lazy, anti-Joe Burrow takes. If you’re doing that, you’re just a bored contrarian.
The most vocal offender is Colin Cowherd, who took the news of Burrow’s 9-inch hands and turned that into “he’s not a great prospect. He’s a great story.” In case you missed this horrifically weak take, well, watch at your own risk:
“Joe Burrow is not a great prospect. He’s a great story… It is remarkable to me when we dismiss stuff that matters. Arm, maturity, wonderlic, hand size. It all matters.” — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/FN3zcqiLi8
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 25, 2020
Cowherd himself has admitted that his goal isn’t always to be right, but rather to be interesting. He’s neither in this argument.
We know that because Cowherd actually didn’t know Burrow’s story until he had to be informed by Urban Meyer on air during the middle of the 2019 season that he transferred from Ohio State. Cowherd thought that Ohio State told Burrow to “get out of there” and that Burrow was getting love in 2019 after “throwing a couple nice screen passes.”
Meanwhile, Cowherd said the only perfect quarterback prospects he ever saw were John Elway and Dan Marino. In case you were wondering, here’s a breakdown of what those 3 players did in their pre-draft seasons:
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(Not included in that was Marino’s Pitt squad scoring a combined 13 points against the 2 teams he faced that finished in the top 10 of the AP Poll.)
Also not included there is the fact that Burrow did that against the most battle-tested schedule in college football history as a 6-3, 220-pound quarterback who operated an offense that was brought in from the New Orleans Saints.
Am I even saying that Burrow is undoubtedly a better prospect than those guys? No. Obviously college stats aren’t everything. There’s mechanics, genetics, IQ and … hand size (more on that later).
But imagine looking at those numbers telling yourself that Marino, who was just a tad bigger than Burrow, is a perfect prospect and that Burrow isn’t even a “great” prospect. That’s what Cowherd did. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But opinions can be lazy, and opinions can be wrong. That checks both of those boxes.
You might say, “why take anything Cowherd has to say seriously?” After all, he’s the guy who claimed in that same argument that he knew when Vince Young was drafted that he wouldn’t work in the NFL because his throwing style reminded him of Tim Tebow … who was still in high school at the time.
Here’s the thing — the fact that Cowherd got a single retweet (and nearly 1,000 likes) on that suggests that there are other people who actually support this lazy, late-February take. They just watched Burrow deliver the best statistical season ever for a quarterback (that’s not debatable) against the most teams who finished in the top 15 of the AP Poll than we’ve ever seen a national champion face. It was as close to a perfect season as there was.
You don’t think Burrow is perfect? That’s fine. He doesn’t run like Lamar Jackson, and his arm isn’t on Josh Allen-levels of ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with thinking other quarterback prospects have been better. Shoot, I don’t even have a problem if you tell me you’d rather roll the dice on Tua Tagovailoa’s surgically-repaired hip than Burrow.
But don’t use your platform to try and say he’s not a great prospect and that some sort of media-driven narrative is why he’s the no-doubt No. 1 pick. All that says to me is that you’re bored and you’re looking for the zag.
Burrow’s 9-inch hands were essentially the first real negative story we’ve seen about him as a player/person in the last calendar year. It was like a pack of starved wolves finally got a chance to say something negative about Burrow, and they didn’t waste it (but they did ignore the fact that Patrick Mahomes just won a Super Bowl with hands that are 1/4 inch bigger than Burrow’s). Maybe that’s because we have a hater culture and we can’t accept when there’s a boring No. 1 overall pick.
The modern pre-draft process has essentially killed any possibility of there being the perfect prospect. It’s why we see rants like Cowherd’s or headlines on Yahoo Sports saying “Joe Burrow’s hand size is going to be a big topic of conversation.” Why? Because he’s as close to perfect as anything we saw and because it’s late-February, the idea of poking holes in that is going to stir more emotions than NBA storylines 2 months from the playoffs.
If Burrow isn’t immune from the modern pre-draft process, nobody is. It was different talking about sub-6 foot Kyler Murray or crotch-grabbing Baker Mayfield. Burrow wasn’t the prolific quarterback who played in irrelevant #Pac12AfterDark games after everyone had gone to bed like Jared Goff, nor was he the guy who regressed in his pre-draft season like Jameis Winston.
Those guys all had noteworthy flaws that were worth dissecting before being drafted as potential franchise-altering No. 1 overall picks. Those flaws created content. They gave the contrarian a leg to stand on just in case their career went south so they could say “see, I told you why this wouldn’t work.” Some people live for that stuff. It makes them feel validated.
And even if Cowherd and I had the same-size platform, he’s still going to get more traction for that opinion. That’s the way the internet works in 2020. He’s not trying to be right. He’s trying to be interesting.
But the reality is that Burrow, even with his small hands, is indeed a boring prospect at this point. Anyone suggesting he’s not a great prospect is doing it to avoid being boring.
Hopefully this proved you can actually keep people interested for 5 minutes of Burrow discussion without making lazy claims about his NFL potential.
Don’t worry Conor, none of us have ever thought you wrote articles for clickbait.
Tee Hee!
Geeze.. pot meet kettle. Hypocritical much connor?
Connor barely understands college football, he just needs to leave every aspect of the pros alone.
Burrow = The Next Ryan Leaf !
Ryan Leaf had a cannon for an arm.
Joe Burrow has an adequate NFL arm.
Ryan Leaf was mentally weak and prompted NFL Scouts to spend more time investigating psychological issues with athletes.
Joe Burrow’s mental fortitude and preparation rivals that of Peyton Manning’s.
Ryan Leaf never demonstrated the ability to be a leader.
Joe Burrow won over his locker room despite being the new guy from Ohio with 3 very popular QBs already on the team.
Yeah, dead ringer for Ryan Leaf…
Dude just ignore the troll. He’s a clown who just posts angry negative comments on every non gator article. He called Fromm the next Leaf as well. He’s so original. Not.
I figured gator88 was trying to make a joke? I was going to call Cowturd the next Ryan Leaf!
MLU, I thought Leaf had an opioid addiction? Respect to you, but that’s different from being “mentally weak.” At this point, pharmaceutical companies and prescribing doctors are being held responsible for what’s being called an “epidemic.” The president has stepped in. Leaf finally beat his addiction and now works to help others battling the same thing.
Otherwise, agree about Burrow. And, google “cowherd burrow transfer” and watch the clip. Cowherd’s beyond ignorant, and usually makes a fool of himself as he puts it on display. Not sure why anyone pays attention to this guy, or why he even has a show?? A 6 year old could do better (seriously!).
A great story is “Rudy”. He got in the game, made a sack, awesome. Burrow literally torched everybody he played. Cowherd has lost his ever-lovin’ mind…
Hand size does matter when playing in different weather conditions. That being said I hope it hurts Burrows draft stock enough to fall to an actual decent team in the NFL so that he will be successful.
Unfortunately, I think the Bengals want him. He’s going to sell a lot of tickets in Cincinnati, not to mention jerseys.
In that same segment Colin had to admit he’s wrong all the time. He’s not interested in being right.
Disagree with this idea. Those of us who can’t predict the future and haven’t seen the guy play a down in the league are ok to be skeptical.
Burrow has a very good arm. Burrow is not versatile with his feet. Burrow seems to have good leadership skills. We haven’t seen Burrow play in a lot of cold weather so does anybody really know how this is going to turn out, i doubt it. Where does it rain during a high % of NFL games? Burrow has very good distance vision for a college quarterback. Burrow has very good mental anticipation which is in part due to his good vision. They measure hands in the combine because it’s easy and relatively relevant, not because it’s a great indicator.
As for Cowherd on Mahommes; Mahommes is only a very good quarterback in a lot of ways also. He is not the great at anything, or almost great at a lot of things Cowherd wants to hold him up as. Mahommes has a very good team around him in Kansas City, they are also not great at everything. Their excellent year last year and this Superbowl year, in my opinion, is an example of a whole team of coaches and players hanging in there and playing just good enough to be better most every Sunday.
I personally think Drew Lock will very quickly come to be known as having a better arm than Mahommes and maybe everybody in the NFL…. this does not mean Elway has the Superbowl won yet. Same thing for LSU, having Burrow by himself was far from the only reason they won the SEC and the big bowl.