2020 NFL Draft: First round mock draft featuring Joe Burrow at No. 1

With the Miami Dolphins defeating the New York Jets in Week 9, the Cincinnati Bengals, as the lone zero-win team in the league, seem to have a firm grasp on the number one overall pick for the 2020 NFL Draft.

As I suggested they do in my previous 2020 NFL Draft one-round mock, the Bengals are turning things over to Ryan Finley and benching Andy Dalton. This will give them a chance to evaluate their fourth-round rookie and see if he has what it takes to be their quarterback of the future (or at least to give him another year to prove himself then take a shot at the 2021 QB class if he doesn’t pan out).

But in this case, if the Bengals are still picking first overall, I think it will be pretty clear that Finley is not their guy. If they like what they see enough to give him another year and still have this pick, Ohio State defensive end Chase Young would be the no-brainer, as arguably the best player in the 2020 NFL Draft. But again, if they are still picking at one after nearly half a season under Finley, I think they go with whatever quarterback they like the best.

The mantra of the 2020 NFL Draft has been “Tank for Tua”, but I think there is a real possibility that Tua Tagovailoa is not the first quarterback taken. There will surely be a team (or a few) that will be turned off by his injury history in his brief playing career and will fall in love with the traits that a different quarterback prospect possesses.

Cincy could certainly opt for Tua at one, especially since they drafted his former teammate Jonah Williams in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft a year ago. Or they could value the experience and upside of a guy like Justin Herbert as our Sayre Bedinger mocked here. But I think their guy could very well end up being LSU breakthrough star, Joe Burrow.

Burrow has come from off the scouting radar to squarely in the mix for the top overall pick this season. He has been playing that well. Burrow is showing that he is a cerebral quarterback, capable of making quick and correct reads followed by quick and accurate throws across the field.

Burrow does pretty much everything well. He doesn’t have the cannon arm that guys like some other prospects have, but he can make every throw with zip and touch. He isn’t quite as mobile as some other prospects, but he is a very capable runner with good pocket presence. He may not have quite the ceiling as some other prospects, but to me, Burrow is the most well-rounded, sure-thing, starting-caliber quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft class.

One reason why I think that the Bengals could end up linking themselves to a guy like Burrow or Herbert is their likelihood of coaching the Senior Bowl. The Senior Bowl chooses the coaching staffs for the game from NFL teams that finish toward the bottom of the league whose staff will be kept together for the next season. With head coach Zac Taylor and his staff in their first year, I think there is a strong chance they end up being selected to coach a team in the Senior Bowl.

Coaching players in the Senior Bowl give a coaching staff an invaluable chance to be around a prospect and get incredible insight and experience with these players ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft. If Taylor begins coaching Burrow for the Senior Bowl game, the way he has been quickly learning and improving at LSU, I would think he would want to continue that journey.

Burrow is somewhat comparable to Jared Goff, who Taylor coached under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams, and could come in and learn and operate Taylor’s offense very efficiently and effectively. Burrow can spread the offense, push the ball downfield, and utilize play action to draw receivers open.

With Joe Mixon, John Ross, Tyler Boyd and possibly still A.J. Green, Taylor and Burrow should be able to turn the Cincinnati offense into a balanced, west coast type of offense with weapons and options at every level of the field. If Williams comes back healthy and fills in at left tackle and Burrow can stay upright, he could thrive quickly as a rookie in the NFL and should continue to develop as a franchise quarterback in the NFL.

Burrow just showed that he can bring it against the best competition out there, throwing for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers win against Alabama. Burrow was able to pick apart the vaunted Bama defense and proved that LSU belongs towards the top of the college football rankings and that he belongs towards the top of the 2020 NFL Draft.

After another pitiful performance against the Ravens in week 10, Cincy is well on their way to their pick of the litter in April. And after watching the LSU-Alabama on Saturday, it’s looking more and more likely that the Bengals will be Burrow-bound in the 2020 NFL Draft.