When the Cincinnati Bengals hired head coach Zac Taylor in 2019, Bengals owner Mike Brown highlighted Taylor’s ability to build an offense and develop a quarterback.
Over the next three seasons, the Bengals moved on from former quarterback Andy Dalton, used a No. 1 draft pick on the best quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft and constructed the sixth-best scoring offense in the NFL.
Taylor’s coaching career will always be linked with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who has led the Bengals into the 2021 playoff picture. If Burrow didn’t break out during the 2019 college football season, the story of Taylor’s tenure with the Bengals could have featured a different quarterback.
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“Certainly if Joe Burrow hadn't been there, Justin Herbert would have been a great selection because he's a tremendous player,” Taylor said. “He impressed us in every area. And obviously he's done a really good job with Los Angeles.”
Burrow said he knew who Herbert was throughout Herbert’s career at Oregon. While Burrow was a backup at Ohio State before transferring to LSU, Herbert won 29 games and had 10,541 career passing yards.
“He was always the guy, really the whole time,” Burrow said. “For his whole three years, he was going to be the next No. 1 pick … I was some unknown backup guy for three years.”
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Burrow’s national championship season in 2019 changed the landscape of the 2020 NFL Draft. But the Bengals still did their due diligence on Herbert before drafting Burrow.
The Bengals coaching staff worked with Herbert throughout the 2020 Senior Bowl. During Senior Bowl Week in Mobile, Alabama, Taylor coached Herbert and noticed his arm strength and his confidence.
Taylor remembers Herbert taking “complete control” during the Friday walk-through. He could tell that Herbert spent time in his hotel room during the week studying the offense, and Herbert knew exactly how to direct traffic in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage.
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“Certainly it was easy to see why he was going to be a high pick and in the conversation for the No. 1 pick,” Taylor said. “What I saw from him was a big guy who's a tremendous athlete for his size; really strong arm, could make all the throws effortlessly; really smart. He mastered all of the things that Oregon wanted him to do.”
Even though the Bengals coaching staff never watched Burrow throw in person before the draft due to the pandemic, Taylor studied “every throw Burrow put on tape.”
Herbert’s arm strength outside the pocket was unique, but the Bengals front office was swayed by Burrow’s accuracy, his ability to diagnose defenses like a veteran and his leadership skills.
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“It became more about Joe Burrow and less about the other guys,” Taylor said. “We evaluated everybody.”
“We made sure we had a clear understanding of what everybody brought to the table. But just the more you learned about Joe Burrow, the more that became our decision.”
Just like Burrow, Herbert has been the biggest reason his team is in the playoff picture in 2021. But Burrow and Herbert play completely different styles.
Burrow has been one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, one of the best against the blitz and has taken advantage of the way he reads a defense to create big plays consistently.
Herbert has one of the most gifted arms in the NFL. While he struggled against defenses that disguise their coverages, like the Baltimore Ravens, Herbert is a great athlete who regularly creates plays with his legs outside of the pocket.
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“He’s a really good scramble quarterback,” Bengals safety Jessie Bates III said. “I think what makes him special is that he can get out of the pocket and throw it at the same time, the sidearm, the (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick) Mahomes type throws.”
In 2020, Burrow and Herbert competed against each other at the NFL combine. Before Burrow’s ACL injury at the end of November, they were neck-and-neck for Rookie of the Year.
On Sunday, they’ll compete against each other for the first time at the professional level. The Bengals are glad they went with Burrow, but he’ll still be compared to Herbert for the rest of his career.
"I'm trying to prove myself every day whether I was the No. 1 pick or a sixth-round pick or a third-round pick,” Burrow said. “It doesn't matter to me. I'm out here trying to prove myself to my coaches and teammates and to the world every single day. That's my mindset going into every week."
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